2016 Budget: Gov. Lalong promises fiscal discipline, due diligence

The Plateau State Government has assured citizens of the state that the 2016 Budget would be implemented with due diligence.
The State Government also promised fiscal discipline in the execution of the budget.
The State Governor, Simon Lalong, who disclosed this while signing into law the 2016 Budget on Tuesday, also said he will apply financial intelligence in line with global best practices.
Lalong said the 2016 Budget, tagged: “Budget of Rescue and Hope,” is unique and nationally in tune with the zero-based budgeting principle, whereby total revenue equals total projected expenditure.
He said: “We are determined to change and rescue situations by overcoming the handicaps of the past and exploring the prospects of a better Plateau for the benefit of our people.
“We remain committed to reducing our people’s suffering, tackling insecurity, ensuring peaceful co-existence and creating opportunities for every citizen of Plateau to live a meaningful and productive life.
“We will address critical development projects and work assiduously towards addressing the outlined interventions that will help us deliver on our Five Policy Thrust of Peace, Security and Good Governance, Human Capital Development and Social Welfare, Agriculture and Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and Industrialization and Physical Infrastructure and Environment.
“We desire to multiply the impact of our interventions by strategically exploring and exploiting the wealth of resources and opportunities that we have in the Agriculture, Mineral Resources and Tourism Sectors.”
It will recalled that the budget estimate of N154,072,570,442:00 only was presented to the House with an oil benchmark of $38 per barrel.
Lalong said after careful deliberations and considering the current economic situation of continuous fall in revenue arising from the drop in the oil price to as low as $27 per barrel, the House considered and passed an estimate of N146,696,185,118:00, made up of N73,371,074,960:00 for Capital Vote and a Recurrent Expenditure of N73,325,110,158:00.
This shows a decrease of N7,376,385,324:00 from what was presented to the House.
Lalong therefore encouraged critical review of every anticipated scheme that would lead to planned investment on development projects during the financial year.