Sokoto Assembly passes N169.652bn 2019 budget

Sokoto State House of Assembly on Thursday passed the state’s 2019 budget of N169.652 billion as presented by Governor Aminu Tambuwal.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Appropriation Bill was passed following a motion moved by the Assembly’s Majority Whip Habibu Modachi (PDP- Isa). The motion came after the consideration of a report by the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation.

Presenting the report, the Committee chairman, Malami Ahmed (PDP- Sokoto South II), said the amounts proposed for both recurrent and capital expenditure remained the same as submitted by the governor.

“The sum o f N70,468,519,058.00 representing 41.53 percent for recurrent expenditure and N99,184,252,425.00 representing 58.47 percent for capital expenditure remain the same as proposed.

“That the 2019 budget amounting to N169, 652,771,486.00 is neither added nor reduced by the committee. The figure remains as submitted to the assembly by Governor Tambuwal.

“Moreover, based on the genuine request of the SubCommittee, the Committee moved resources inwards to accommodate some important demands and interests of the people,” Ahmed said.

He said the committee recommended that the state government should ensure forwarding of the obsolete tax laws to the state House of Assembly for amendment.

“This is with a view to making an upward review of the rate to conform with the present economic reality. This would also go a long way in enhancing revenue base of the state.

“That henceforth, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with MDAS should adequately scrutinise and ensure correct figures, project titles, descriptions, location and costs are inserted in the subsequent budget proposal,” he said.

Ahmed commended the Board of Internal Revenue for sustaining more efforts in improving the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2018.

“In 2018 we learnt that the board had recorded great improvement in IGR from N9 billion in 2017 to N13.1 billion.

“This is a great and encouraging improvement for the state, as such we commend the board’s commitment and urge them to sustain such for better service in the state,” Ahmed said.