Niger state Governor presents N111 billion ridiculous budget

**dawoda** · 24th December 2009

I smelt rat,a budget of over 54 billion naira over the previous year.

Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu has presented a N111 billion budget estimate to the state House of Assembly for consideration.

In the projected revenue, the state government is expected to get N33.4 billion from statutory allocation; N5.135 billion from Value Added Tax,VAT; N43.8 billion from capital receipt and internally generated revenue of N12 billion which bring expected revenue profile to N94.5.

Presenting the 2010 budget estimate alongside his annual state of service address to the House of Assembly yesterday, Aliyu said the budget which is N54 billion above last year's N57 billion had a deficit of over N17 billion.

Aliyu was, however, silent on how the budget would be funded as he decried the over reliance of the state government on statutory allocation, saying the administration will intensify the diversification of the states' economy and strengthen its generated revenue with vigor.

A breakdown of the estimate showed that recurrent expenditure for 2010 is N37.107 billion, consisting personnel cost at N19.876 billion, overhead cost at N11.533 billion, state contributory pension at N1.426 billion, local government dues at N900 million, local government pension fund at N450 million and pension and gratuity at N2.9 billion.

The capital vote will gulp N74.404 billion representing 66.7 per cent of the total estimate with the economic sector getting N29.875 billion, social sector N13.45 billion, regional development N16.5 billion, general administration N13.9 billion while science and technology will get N569 million.