The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has expressed concern over the increased number of maternal deaths of over 103,000 annually in the state.
He stated this during the presentation of the 2016 Budget to the State House of Assembly on Tuesday.
The Governor, who lamented that Kaduna State records over 103,000 maternal deaths annually and also loses 95 babies out of every 1000 births, attributed the situation to lack of ante-natal care, medical facilities and inadequate medical personnel.
Governor El-Rufai warned that if drastic interventions are not put in place to save the lives of pregnant women and children, the maternal and infant mortality rate will go higher.
To address the problem, he said all political appointees in his administration will henceforth, take a pay cut in order to save money for the improvement of facilities in the health sector and other developmental projects across the state.
The Governor said that the 2016 appropriation bill, tagged “Budget of Sacrifice, Restoration and Change”, will focus more attention on job creation, improved health care delivery and agricultural revolution.
Presiding over an administration that inherited a pension arrears of over 14 billion Naira, Governor El-Rufai announced plans to cut down the monthly take home pay of pensioners especially those in the senior cadre, while at the same time, increasing those of junior retirees. This he noted will promote equity and fairness in the public service.
He also pointed out that there would be no automatic annual salary increments in 2016, while duty tour allowances and estacode rates have been reduced.
Welfare Of The Citizens
With the present dwindling federal allocation to the states, Governor El-Rufai said that the accelerated passage of the fiscal responsibility, land administration and tax reform bills into law by the assembly this year, will improve the state’s Internally Generated Revenue in 2016.
He also told the lawmakers that a larger percentage of the 2016 budget would be channeled to projects that would impact positively on the welfare of the citizens, rather than using it to fund the running of government activities as that was the practice in the past.
In his response, the Speaker of Kaduna State House Assembly, Aminu Shagali, assured the Governor of speedy deliberation and passage of the budget.
The proposed 2016 budget of 171 Billion, comprises of 104 billion Naira capital and 62 billion Naira recurrent expenditure.
Works, Housing and Transport got the highest allocation of 31 billion Naira.
Governor El-Rufai said the budget projections are based on a conservative benchmark crude oil price, put at about 39.50 Dollars per barrel.
