Ganduje, Masari, Yahaya, Ortom sign 2021 budgets into law

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and his counterparts from Katsina, Gombe and Benue have signed the their respective states’ appropriation bill into law.

Ganduje had submitted the N147.9 billion ‘Budget of Reality’ to the House of Assembly in October 2020 for scrutiny. However, the N177,936,737.540 budget passed into law indicated N30 billion increase to the estimate submitted by Ganduje in October.

The governor also signed N52.1 billion supplementary budget for 2020 into law. Education, health and infrastructure took top priority in the 2021 budget, among other sectorial allocations.

Assenting to the appropriation at the Government House, Kano, Ganduje declared his determination to ensure 90 per cent implementation of capital projects slated for 2021.

IN the same vein, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, yesterday, signed into law the state’s appropriation bill of N286.6 billion.

The budget is an increase of N3.8 billion over the N282 billion estimate earlier presented by the governor to the House of Assembly a few weeks ago.

Masari commended the lawmakers for the speedy passage of the bill, more than a week before the end of the year.

ALSO, Governor Muhammad Yahaya of Gombe State signed the state’s 2021 budget bill into law.

The N119 billion ‘Budget of Resilience’ was signed in the Executive Council Chamber, Government House, yesterday, in the presence of the Speaker, Chairman House Committee on appropriation, Clerk of the House, Majority Leader among others.

Yahaya thanked the lawmakers for their “usual prompt attention to executive matters, which had nurtured peace, harmony and enviable relationship between the two arms of government.”

Earlier, the speaker had disclosed that 52 per cent of the budget was earmarked for capital projects and 48 per cent for recurrent expenditure.

BENUE State Governor Samuel Ortom also signed the 2021 appropriation bill of N134 billion into law. Performing the state function at Government House, Makurdi, Ortom expressed gratitude to the House of Assembly and Benue people for standing by him in the face of threats to the state’s corporate existence during the enactment of the open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law of 2017.

He lauded the assembly for passing the bill without delay and said it would fast-track government business in the state.