Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has presented N130.5 billion naira as the 2021 budget to the state house of assembly for approval.
The governor while presenting the budget tagged ‘’ budget of accelerated recovery’’ said the budget is divided into the recurrent expenditure of N70.04 billion representing N56.72 percent and capital expenditure of N56.49 billion representing N43.28 percent.
He said that the total estimated recurrent revenue of the budget was N82.4 billion consisting of N20.9 billion which will be realized from internal sources, while N45.4 billion comes from the federation account.
Speaking further the governor said a total of N13.5 billion revenue is expected from Value-Added Tax (VAT) as N120 million from excess crude and N1 billion from exchange differentials.
He stated that the fiscal strategy of the government was anchored on the on-going Public Financial Management reform. (PFM).
He stated that the state government fiscal policy is directed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending to achieve a better balance between capital and recurrent expenditure and also achieving greater control of the wage bill.
On the objectives and target of the 2021 budget, the governor said the specific financial objectives of Kogi state government is effective allocation of scarce resources to identified critical programmes and projects.
He noted that the 2021 budget would follow major targets to improve the quality and affordability of education in order to produce the articulate and skilled manpower required for economic transformation of the state.
Governor Bello who also stated that the budget will improve quality and access to healthcare assured that the effort will lead to an improvement in the efficiency of the healthcare delivery system.
He also mentioned that the 2021 budget will ensure gainful employment for the youths, create entrepreneurship opportunities, especially in agriculture and infotech.
Governor Bello assured that the budget will improve the road network in the state through continued construction of new roads and bridges and rehabilitation of existing ones in both urban and rural areas.
