Borno : Shettima Okays N204bn Budget For 2014

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, February 05, (THEWILL) - Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State Wednesday okayed a total sum of N204 billion as budget for 2014 as he assented to the Appropriation Bill brought before him by the state House of Assembly.

Last December , he had presented an estimate of N176 billion to the state Assembly , an amount that was increased by N28 billion when the bill was returned to him for assent.

Explaining the rationale for the increase, the Speaker of the state Assembly, Hon.

Abdulkarim Lawan, said it was done to make the state government meet some earlier commitments.

Lawan, who spoke at the signing ceremony at the Government House in Maiduguri, said the Assembly sat with the Committees on Budget and Finance before with the new figure as he explained that it was discovered that the governor's plan to build some schools and roads were not captured in the initial proposal.

"We found out that your promise to build roads and secondary schools during your visit to some Local Government Areas was not captured, so we decided to increase it to N204 billion," he told the governor.

The Speaker however called on the governor to do everything within his power to achieve optimal performance of the budget, saying the Assembly had done its bit by passing the bill into law leaving the rest for the executive to implement.

In his response, Governor Shettima said the state has witnessed another milestone in its annals with the signing of the 2014 appropriation bill into law.

as he commend the legislature for discharging their duty promptly.

He expressed gratitude to the legislature for the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature as he promised that the budget would be targeted at providing the needed infrastructure and alleviating poverty in the state.