The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has presented a budget proposal of N94.4 billion for the 2013 fiscal year, representing a 10 per cent increase over last year’s projection of N85.1 billion, to the state House of Assembly.
Presenting the budget proposal, themed: “Sustained Prosperity” on Thursday, Ahmed stressed that the budget was designed to boost infrastructure, accelerate agro-led wealth creation, create jobs and sustain the state’s development.
It is also aimed at reducing the state’s dependence on federally-allocated revenue and attract foreign and domestic investments into the state, the governor said.
Despite the challenges of limited financial resources, Ahmed said his administration is determined “to provide good governance to the people through a systematic focus on our interlinked priority areas.”
He added: “Our resources may be limited but our resolve to overcome these challenges and provide good governance for the benefit of the people is boundless.”
A breakdown of the budget shows a total recurrent revenue of N58.1 billion while recurrent expenditure was put at N51 billion.
Total Recurrent Surplus is N6.3 billion while total capital receipt was estimated at N42.6 billion, with total capital expenditure also pegged at N42.6 billion.
The sectoral breakdown shows that roads will continue to receive priority attention with a vote of N7.9 billion.
This is closely followed by Education and Human Capital Development with N7.6 billion, with Tertiary Education, Science and Technology and Agriculture Development each receiving N4.3 billion and Health allocated N3.3 billion.
The proposed capital expenditure on Water Supply is N1.9 billion, Sport and Youth Development took N1.4 billion and N1.2 billion was allocated to Energy. Others are Housing and Urban Development – N249 million; Commerce and Cooperatives – N181 million; Information and Communication – N421 million; Environment and Forestry – N799 million; Social Welfare Culture and Tourism – N110 million.
Reflecting on last year’s budget performance, Alhaji Ahmed said significant progress was made on road development, health, energy, education and water supply despite the limitations imposed by the realities of the national economy.
He, however, assured the people of his administration’s determination to bring about rapid economic and social advancement of the state’s economy while sustaining the improved well-being of the people.
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