Sokoto Assembly passes N169.652 billion 2019 budget

The Sokoto State House of Assembly on Thursday passed the state’s 2019 budget of N169.652 billion as presented by Governor Aminu Tambuwal.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Appropriation Bill was passed following a motion moved by the Assembly’s Majority Whip Habibu Modachi (PDP- Isa).

The motion came after the consideration of a report by the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation.

Presenting the report, the Committee Chairman, Malami Ahmed (PDP- Sokoto South II) said the amounts proposed for both recurrent and capital expenditure remained the same as submitted by the governor.

“The sum of N70,468,519,058.00 representing 41.53 per cent for recurrent expenditure and N99,184,252,425.00 representing 58.47 per cent for capital expenditure remain the same as proposed.

“That the 2019 budget amounting to N169, 652,771,486.00 is neither added nor reduced by the committee. The figure remains as submitted to the assembly by Gov. Tambuwal.

“Moreover, based on the genuine request of the Sub-Committee, the Committee moved resources inwards to accommodate some important demands and interests of the people,” Mr Ahmed said.

He said the committee recommended that the state government should ensure forwarding of the obsolete tax laws to the state House of Assembly for amendment.

“This is with a view to making an upward review of the rate to conform to the present economic reality. This would also go a long way in enhancing revenue base of the state.

“That henceforth, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with MDAs should adequately scrutinise and ensure correct figures, project titles, descriptions, location and costs are inserted in the subsequent budget proposal,” he said.

Mr Ahmed commended the Board of Internal Revenue for sustaining more efforts in improving the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2018.

“In 2018 we learnt that the board had recorded great improvement in IGR from N9 billion in 2017 to N13.1 billion.

“This is a great and encouraging improvement for the state, as such we commend the board’s commitment and urge them to sustain such for better service in the state,” Mr Ahmed said.

The Pro tempore Speaker, Garba Bello (PDP-Yabo), said “The bill is accordingly read for the third time and passed,” as the members unanimously accepted it in a voice vote.

NAN recalls that Governor Tambuwal had on December 24, 2018 presented the budget to the State House of Assembly for consideration.

Mr Tambuwal had said the budget was carefully formulated in line with the strong desire to address the fundamental needs of the people of the state.

The budget was tagged “Budget of Consolidation for Sustainable Growth and Development” which reflected a shortfall of over N50 billion compared to the over N220.5 billion of 2018.

According to him, the projected revenue breakdown of the 2019 budget stands as, statutory allocation N45.133 billion, Value Added Tax (VAT) N14.473 billion and Internally Generated Revenue N28.668 billion.

“Federal grants on state fiscal transparency N4 billion, miscellaneous revenue from FG including excess crude N26.550 billion, transfer from consolidated account N2.500 billion and budget support from FG N10 billion.

“Domestic loans and bonds N20 billion, UBEC funds N1.474 billion, loans/grants to capital projects N 14.854 billion, civil/public servants’ contribution to education N1 billion and SDGs/CGS N1 billion,” he said.