Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno on Thursday presented N170.2 billion Appropriation Bill for 2018 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly. Shettima said the bill tagged: “Budget of Resettlement and Empowerment”, was less than that of 2017 by N13. 560 billion or 7.38 per cent. He explained that the capital expenditure was allocated N108,408,580 billion while recurrent vote got N61,870,934 billion.
Shettima disclosed that the budget would be financed from projected Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N16,075,548 billion; allocation from the Federation Account of N115,734,194 billion, and Capital Receipt of N38,469,772 billion. Major highlights of the budget showed that education got the highest allocation of N27 billion.
Breaking down the budget portfolio, Shettima said that N12.6 billion was set aside for infrastructure development and management of secondary school education, and N10.3 billion for tertiary education, while N4.4 billion for the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) programmes. The governor revealed that N22.6 billion was earmarked for construction of major roads, drainage and transport services through the State Ministry of Works and Transport. “N17.7 billion for healthcare infrastructure, consumables and other related needs, and N9.8 billion for completion of reconstruction work of destroyed communities, rehabilitation and resettlement of victims of insurgency while N8 billion was set aside for agricultural sector,” he said. The governor recalled that his administration had made deliberate efforts to reconstruct and rehabilitate public structures and residential homes in the liberated communities.
“I am happy to announce that most of the schools, health centres and residential houses in some of the local governments destroyed during the insurgency, have been reconstructed and services fully restored,” he said. Shettima listed Konduga, Damasak, Dikwa, Askira/Uba, Kaga and Mafa, as some of the benefiting local government areas. He added that the state government had returned the displaced persons to their ancestral homes in the affected areas.
The governor said the government had also trained youths and women on various trades to build resilience and provide means of livelihood to the returnees. “Also, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Damboa, Ngala and Monguno have been safely returned to their homes, to ensure that the displaced persons engaged in productive economic activities.
“The state government trained youths and women in skills acquisition, provided them with entrepreneurship kits and farm inputs while building materials were also distributed to some of the IDPs to enable them to rebuild their homes within the period under review,” he said. According to him, the state government had achieved significant feat in areas of school development, roads, hospitals, agriculture and housing development projects as well as humanitarian services.
