Benue budgets N164b, Katsina proposes N140b for 2017

• Plateau presents N133b appropriation bill
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State yesterday presented the 2017 appropriation bill of N163.9 billion to the state’s House of Assembly.

He said that the bill, christened “Budget of Rural Transformation’, should be considered a collective vision of a new Benue.

The governor said of the total sum, recurrent expenditure was N66.348 billion, while capital expenditure stood at N97.562 billion.

He noted that recurrent expenditure constituted 40 per cent of the entire budget, while capital expenditure represented 60 per cent.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the speaker, Terkimbi Ikyange, commended the governor for the timely submission of the budget

Also yesterday, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State presented a budget estimate of N140.2 billion for the 2017 financial year.

NAN notes that next year’s appropriation, tagged “Budget of standardisation of all capital projects” is N25 billion higher than that of 2016.

A breakdown showed that recurrent expenditure accounts for N47.7 billion while capital expenditure gulped N92.5 billion.

The speaker, Alhaji Sabiu Muduru, assured the governor of the legislature’s readiness to hasten the passage of the budget.

In the same vein, Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong has read a N132,702,296,295 appropriation bill to the state’s lawmakers.

In the budget, N30.3 billion was allocated to economic sector.

Next year’s proposal is N14 billion inferior to the 2016 figure.

According to the breakdown, the 2017 appropriation christened “Budget of Rescue and Confidence Building” earmarked N68.4 billion for recurrent expenditure while capital expenditure got N64.2 billion, representing 51.56 per cent and 48.44 per cent of the total budget.

The appropriation bill also has a deficit of N16,587,841,835 to be drawn from both internal and external sources.

The governor reiterated the commitment of his administration to better the lot of the people.

“We shall with a sense of purpose, dutifully pursue the greater good of our people, giving them the service that will enhance their socio-economic well-being and guarantee their place on the Plateau of their dream,” he pledged