Shettima presents N170.3billion budget for 2018

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has presented a N170.3billion budget to the State House of Assembly (BOSHA), for appropriation for the 2018 fiscal year.

The Appropriation Bill, tagged: “Budget of Resettlement and Empowerment” however; dropped by 7.3 per cent or N13billion compared to last year’s N183.84 billion appropriation bills.

Presenting the budget last Thursday at the Assembly complex, Maiduguri, Shettima said the “massive reconstructions of institutional structures,” destroyed by Boko Haram insurgency, are to be accorded top most priority to enable displaced persons return to their communities.

He said that out of the total budget, recurrent expenditures stood at N61.3billion, while capital expenditures took the lion’s share of N108.41billion.
On sources to fund the budget, Shettima said: “This budget is going to be financed from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N16.65billion, Federation Accounts Allocations (FAA) of N115.73billion, and capital receipts of N38billion. The IGR has also been reviewed upwards to reflect the current economic situations in the state.”

In the sectoral allocations of budget breakdowns, he said Education, Works and Transport sectors, took the lion shares of N26.82billion and N22.66billion respectively.

He said the accord of topmost priority to Works and Transport, and the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR) sectors, was to expedite the completion of Boko Haram destroyed public structures and houses in the nine-year insurgency.

“The reconstructions and rehabilitation of these public structures and houses next year, are to create an enabling environment to return over 2.8 million displaced persons to their liberated communities on or before May 29, 2018,” Shettima assured.

He said in the first half of next, the Damboa-Mbalala Road, and some in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC), and Jere, including the 43-kilometre Ngala-Gambouru-Ran Road are to be completed.