The Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, on Wednesday signed the 2017 Appropriation Bill of the state into law.
Presenting the approved copy of the N116 bn budget for the governor’s assent, the Speaker of the State Assembly, Honourable Ahmed Marafa, said the lawmakers tinkered with the proposed budget and increased it by N8 bn.
Details of the budget approved by the Assembly showed that N67 bn was for capital expenditure while the recurrent expenditure gulps N48 bn.
The Speaker commended the governor’s foresight in preparing a budget whose capital expenditure profile is higher than the recurrent expenditure.
He said the governor has shown commitment to actualising the restoration agenda of his administration and pledged the continued support of the lawmakers.
Signing the bill into law, Governor Bello said his findings at the ongoing ‘Mid Term Project Assessment and Meet the People Tour’ of the local governments would form the bedrock of 2018 budget.
He declared that henceforth, budget preparation in Niger State would be determined by the needs of the people.
“Our past budgets have been copy and paste. Our budget should be what the people want and not what we think they want. Findings from the ongoing tour will be used to prepare 2018 budget,” Governor Bello said.
