Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello has presented a budget proposal of N130,546,068,026 as against N122.9 billion (N122,970,958,009) of the Amended 2020 Budget as the 2021 budget to the State House of Assembly.
The 2021 proposed Budget represents an increase of N7,575,110,017 or 6.16% when compared with the 2020 final Budget.
The budget tagged “Budget of Accelerated Recovery has a Recurrent Revenue of N82billion (N82,464,412,854 )representing 63.17% and Capital Receipts of N48bn (N48,081,655,172 )representing 36.83%.
During the presentation of the Budget to the state House of Assembly, the Governor stated that the fiscal strategy of Government was anchored on the on-going Public Financial Management Reform (PFM).
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He said that over the period 2021-2023, the State Government fiscal policy will be directed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending.
Also achieving better balance between capital and recurrent expenditure , achieving greater control of the wage bill, directing capital expenditure on critical infrastructure such as Agriculture, Health, Road, Education, Security, Water, Youth engagement .
It will also be directed at boosting revenue receipts by identifying and blocking revenue leakages; and gradual fiscal consolidation in order to achieve a level of public spending consistent with macroeconomic stability and sustainable debt.
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On the objectives and target of the 2021 budget, governor Yahaya Bello said the specific fiscal objectives of Kogi State is effective allocation of scarce resources to identified critical programmes and projects, with the following major targets:
” To improve the quality and affordability of education available to citizens at all levels in order to produce the articulate and skilled manpower required for economic transformation of the State”.
” To improve quality and access to healthcare ,to ensure food security and generate a high proportion of the GDP from agriculture.
Other areas of focus according to Bello are agriculture, youth empowerment,housing, debt reduction, power generation, economic and social development, transportation and infrastructure development.
