The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, on Thursday signed into law N244 billion as the budget for 2020 fiscal year following its approved by the state House of Assembly.
Masari, while signing the 2020 budget tagged “Reflection and Progress” at the General Muhammadu Buhari’s House, Katsina, pledged that the government would strive to implement the fiscal policy.
The governor, had on November 20, 2019, presented the sum of N249,463,829,250.00 as 2020 budget estimates to the state House of Assembly for approval.
The Assembly, after a thorough scrutiny of the budget estimates, approved the sum of N244 billion for the 2020 fiscal year before presenting it to the governor for assent.
Governor Masari while signing the budget, said the budget was targeted at consolidating on the numerous achievements recorded by his administration with the aim of revamping rural communities in the state.
He said: “The budget of 2020 is centred towards completing the projects that we have started and is predicated on one or two things that we are sure we can do, such as internally generated revenue.
“But there are certain factors which we have no control over in terms of how much comes into government’s coffers but within the limited resources that would accrue to the state, we will do the best we can to make sure that we impact positively on the lives of the people that we represent.”
The governor promised to run an all-inclusive government that would accommodate ideas, suggestions and constructive criticism from the people of the state irrespective of tribal or political affiliations.
He, however, said the state government would revamp the Departments of Special Duties and Budget and Planning to ensure that rural dwellers understand the purpose of budget “and participate actively”.
He therefore admonished the state lawmakers to continue to carry out oversight functions, saying: “Engage in oversight functions and advise where necessary.”
Addressing journalists shortly after the signing of the budget, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Tasi’u Musa Zango, said the state government proposed N249,463,829,250.00 for 2020 fiscal year but the House approved N244,807,357,900 with a difference of about N4 billion.
Asked why the reduction, Zango said: “When you look at the budget, there are some components that are not supposed to be handled by the state government. So we removed them from the budget.
“For instance, N-power. N-power is purely a federal government project, so we removed it from the budget that is why the budget have a reduction of about N4 billion.”
