YAKOWA BUDGETS N154.3BN FOR 2012

By NBF News

Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa yesterday presented a total budget of N154, 331,452,763 for 2012 fiscal year, with the transport sector taking the largest share of N20, 568,282,439.

The budget which was tagged, 'Budget of peace, unity and growth, has recurrent expenditure of N69, 374,840,844 and capital expenditure of N84, 956,611,919 respectively. Presenting the budget on the floor of the State House of Assembly, Yakowa lamented that the post election violence in the state affected the smooth implementation of the budget for the outgoing year.

'Kaduna State's elections came and went but left behind trails of woe as a result of the unfortunate, unnecessary and uncalled-for Post- Presidential election violence of April 2011. This violence and its aftermath had a lot of negative bearing on the performance of our 2011 Budget of Transition, Consolidation and Hope. The total budget for 2012 showed an increase of about N18 billion above that of 2011 budget put at N136, 564,380,343.

Yakowa said his administration would pursue the implementation of the budget with vigour and determination, adding that it would do so with a human face by looking beyond provision of mere infrastructures and amenities.

He said community leaders, youth and women in various interactive initiatives would be engaged with the aim of restoring a sense of respect for human dignity and value for lives and property, stressing that it was one of the ways of restoring the confidence the people should have in government.

According to him, 'These concerns have therefore made us propose a budget of Peace, Unity and Growth for 2012. The budget of growth is aimed at not only unearthing our potentials but also tapping and realizing our hitherto untapped Internally Generated Revenue sources.'As a matter of fact, there are high expectations by the people of the state from the government for the delivery of the dividends of democracy.'These expectations are being raised against unstable allocation from the federation account. Government has therefore decided that it has to rely more on its internally generated revenues as its major source of financing future development projects.

'As a result of this, I have set up a Revenue Generation Enhancement Committee to explore and tap all sources of revenue in the state. To underscore the importance the government attaches to this new focus, the committee is under my chairmanship. This is certainly the only way to take our destiny in our own hands. 'I therefore call on residents of this state to cooperate with government in its drive to enhance the internal revenue base of the state. I will like to seize this opportunity to assure all tax payers of the prudent and visible utilization of all revenue collected towards ensuring the attainment of the collective good of our dear people of this state.

'It is worthy to state that the 2012 budget is also aimed at addressing our unacceptable level of unemployment by ensuring that every capital project of government factors-in aspects of job creation for sustainable poverty alleviation in quantitative and qualitative terms.'