Nasarawa 2021 Budget, a product of Executive /Legislative harmony for Development

From Francis Nansak,Lafia

There is a quick realisation on the need to move Nasarawa state forward in all sectors ,hence the all inclusive cooperate governance which was recently marshalled out under the administration of Engineer Abdullahi Sule’.

Ladened with lots of labilities that cut across infrastructural development, economy ,the provisions of basic human essentials,as well as human capacity development,which begs for a prudent and meticulous financial reasoning in order to pave way for the attainment of government businesses.

To this end the 2021 budget christened” The Budget of Economic Development” stands out in realising the vision of his administration.

The government since it came onboard in May 29 2019,prioritised the issues of Security,Agriculture,Education,Healthcare ,Youth and Women Empowerment to be areas of major consideration that can advance Nasarawa state ,over and above its present high expectations and dependency on the federal allocation that comes up monthly.

Interestingly ,the legislative arm in the state have also fused it’s policies , programmes and delibrations in line with the vision and aspiration of the executive and the belief that the outlined programmes and projects of the government are selfless and pregnant with a Nasarawa state that will be the center of investment for both local and international investors.

Governor Abdullahi Sule’ with no record of administrative or financial recklessness ever ,coming from a strict ,but well focused private sector,operated within the confines of the law,as such has much respect for the state legislature,to whom,he direct key state responsibility for their approvals.

At first ,having enjoyed how successfully the 2020 budget was supported and passed into law , despite the friction in its execution ,that was occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic ,the governor presented a total budget of #112,923,174,543.00 to the state house of assembly.

The 2020 budget was prepared based on International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) simplified as ” citizens budget” purposefully to help everyone understand the concept of budgeting,the administration was mindful of the dwindling statutory revenue allocations from the Federation Account being the major source of revenue to the state .

However the 2020 budget was focused on completion of all ongoing projects ,embarking on the construction of new roads among others.

In appraising the performance of the 2020 budget ,the commissioner of Finance ,budget and planning Mr Haruna Obgole in his office during the budget breakdown and analyses,regretted that the state government plans on the full implementation of the budget,but was however hampered by the coronavirus out break, leading to government quest to reverse the budget and supplementing it to the tune #20,203,376,300.00.

Nasarawa state under the administration of the Governor, Abdullahi Sule’,is poised at actualising an industrial economy that revolves on the wheels of the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS) from which all the development plans of the state government is perfected.

It is based on realising these strategic vision for the state that the state assembly led by speaker Ibrahim Balarabe ,after a thorough scrutiny and delibrations ,passed into law a total budget of #115,722,514,343.31 for 2021 representing 2.48% increase in state government initial plan #112,923,174,543.00 earlier presented by the governor

Giving the enormous responsiblity on the administration,having reached an appreciable level in the budget implementation of 2020 ,the state lawmakers threw their weight behind the administration of Engineer Abdullahi Sule,to enable smooth governance,therefore passed into law the 2021 budget.