Kaduna Gov signs 2017 budget into law

chika ebuzor

December 13, 2016 7:37 PM

El-Rufai also commended the members of the Kaduna state House of Assembly for not padding the budget.

Kaduna Governor El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna on Tuesday, December 13, 2016, signed the state’s 2017 budget into law.

According to Daily Post, El-Rufai revealed that it has received its share of the Paris Club refund from the Federal Government.

The Governor said the refund will be used to pay the backlog of pension, gratuity and death benefits of retired and dead civil servants in Kaduna state.

Reports say the Kaduna state House of Assembly also made history by being the first legislature to pass the 2017 budget.

Shedding more light on the N214b budget, El-Rufai said he will continue projects aimed at helping the poor in the state.

He also added that the 2017 budget “puts the needs and interests of our people first. In 2017, Kaduna State will spend N44.84bn on Education; N10.49bn on Health; N24.50bn on Infrastructure and N8.1bn on Water. Agriculture, one of our areas of comparative advantage, will get N4.58b.”

The Governor also said “I wish to inform our legislators that we shall be submitting a Supplementary Budget to enable us capture the debt refunds we have just received from the Federal Government. Fifty-five percent of these funds belong to the state government, and the balance is for the local governments.

“We propose to apply 50% of the funds to settling the inherited arrears of gratuity and death benefits for state and local government workers. Some of these unpaid arrears date from as far back as 2010.

“Mr. Dan Ndackson, the Executive Secretary of the Bureau of Pension, has done a great job of sorting out these records and we will be ready to pay once the supplementary budget is passed.

“This is unprecedented, but we are happy to clear the problems created by those before us. The balance of the funds will be dedicated to rural and urban roads.”

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El-Rufai also commended the Kaduna state House of Assembly for not padding the budget.

He said “Our legislators actually reduced the draft estimates we presented by N1bn when the temptation might have been to pad it. We welcome their commitment to a partnership in the interest of our people, and the hard work they have demonstrated in passing 20 laws in 19 months.

“The B+ Fitch Ratings Kaduna State recently got owes a lot to the policy and legal framework created by legislation such as the Tax Codification, Public Procurement, Fiscal Responsibility and Public Finance Management laws.”

Meanwhile, Senator Shehu Sani has accused Governor Nasir El-Rufai of masterminding the attack on his campaign office in Kaduna.

chika ebuzor