Bauchi – Bauchi State governor, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar on Wednesday presented the 2017 budget proposal of N145.45 billion to the State House of Assembly.
Christened “Budget of Sustainable Development”, the estimate is made up of recurrent expenditure of N58.85 billion and capital expenditure of N86.60 billion .
He said about 60 percent of the expected revenue would be expended on capital projects as government intended fast-tracking its efforts in providing infrastructure to the people of the state in the coming year.
He said other areas to be given priority in the incoming year included Health, Agriculture, Education and Water Supply sectors as well as Youth and Women Empowerment.
Abubakar explained that considering the current national and global economic recession, transparency and accountability would be enforced in all fiscal transactions.
He recounted the economic challenges faced in the previous years that forced government into taking measures such as reducing the number of ministries, verification of civil servants and the placing of embargo on employment, among others.
According to him, government will continue to introduce policies that will help boost internally-generated revenue and also cut cost of administration.
“In spite of the challenges, we are determined to move the state forward,” he assured, and called on the people of the state to contribute their quota towards achieving the set goal.
The governor also urged the State Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the budget to enable its implementation to commence in earnest.