Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule has presented an estimated budget for the 2021 fiscal year of One Hundred and Twelve Billion, Nine Hundred and Twenty-three Million, One Hundred and Seventy-four Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty-three Naira (N112,923,174,543) to the State House of Assembly for consideration and passage.
The budget tagged, “budget of economic recuperation” was targeted at addressing some of the negative economic challenges encountered in the year 2020.
In the budget, an estimate for recurrent expenditure was pegged at Fifty-one Billion, Fifty Million, Four Hundred and Fifty-six Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventeen Naira (N51,050,456,817) only representing 45.21% of the budget is earmarked for Non-debt Recurrent Expenditure which consists of both personnel and overhead costs, while the capital expenditure is at Fifty-four Billion, Eight Hundred and Fifty-four Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety-five Naira (N54,854,985,695) only representing 48.58% of the total budget is earmarked as Capital Expenditure for the year 2021.
The budget framework shows an increase of Four Billion, Four Hundred and Seventy-eight Million, Three Hundred and Sixty-eight Thousand, Nine Hundred and Thirty Naira (N4,478,368,930) only, over and above the fiscal year 2020 original budget estimate translating to 4.13% increase and a rise of Forty-nine Billion, Nine Hundred and Fifty-four Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty-six Thousand, Four Hundred and Five Naira (N49,954,826,405) only when compared with the 2020 amended budget representing 79.33% increase.
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Addressing the lawmakers at the hallow chamber of the house Tuesday, Governor Sule said “the fluctuations in the Statutory Revenue Allocation from the Federation Account to a large extent influenced the drawing up of the 2021 budget.
“This is in view of the fact that it remains the major source of revenue accruals to the State. We are also mindful of the fact that we have not yet reached the desired peak of our IGR contribution to the State revenue.
Sule reiterated the determination of his administration to pursue vigorously all sources of revenue due to government and to collect the same at a minimal cost.
He added that, aside from the single treasury account policy of his administration, the Board of Internal Revenue in collaboration with some consulting firms was going to recover taxes due to the State in order to boost the state’s IGR collections.
Governor Sule, however, explained the basic assumptions of the 2021 budget to include, Oil Benchmark of $40pb, FX rate of N379/US$1, Oil Production Output of 1.8m BPD, an inflation rate of 11.95%, an average SRA of N2.9 billion monthly, average VAT of N991.7 million monthly, average Exchange Gain of N185.8 million monthly, average Special Allocation of N383.5 million monthly amongst other assumptions which the budget was predicated on.
The governor who emphasized the principles of transparency and accountability to be the watchword of his administration, he said that he was going to ensure standards and judicious management of government resources at all times.
The Speaker of the house, Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi has assured the governor of speedy passage of the budget for the overall interest and development of the state.
Balarabe-Abdullahi then salutes the governor for his efforts in addressing the security challenges facing the state.
Balarabe-Abdullahi also assured the governor for effective collaboration in order to bring the much-needed dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
