Kaduna State Government on Wednesday says it is planning to present 2019 budget to the state’s House of Assembly for approval in June.
Mr. Muhammed Abdullahi, the state’s Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission, disclosed this at Citizens’ Consultation Forum on Open Government Partnership, Local Government Development Plan (LGDP) and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) 2019-2021 in Kaduna.
He said the action was imperative to avoid situation where the budget process would be distracted by the 2019 electioneering campaign.
He added that “we have already gone far with the draft and we hope to conclude work on it by the end of May, so we can submit it to House of Assembly in June for approval.
“The year 2019 is a campaign year, and if we don’t get the budget passed by the House before the commencement of the campaign, it may get trapped and suffer delay.
“To maintain our record of getting budget passed and signed before the beginning of the year, we have no option than to step-up our game to get it passed before the house members go campaigning.”
The commissioner said the state had attained 34 per cent implementation on the capital expenditure of the 2018 budget in the first quota of the year.
He added that the forum was aimed at getting inputs from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the public on the 2019-2021, describing MTEF as a document that outlined the budget process.
“We want you to understand the budgeting process and pay more attention to revenue generated within a budget year.
“Our expectation is that at the end of the day, CSOs and NGOs will enlighten the public on budget constrain so that they will be able to appreciate government efforts,’’ he said.
Mr. Abdullahi urged participants at the forum to go through the LGDP and make suggestions on how best to prepare the 2019 local government budgets in the state.
Mr. Yusuf Goje, a representative of Coalition of Association for Leadership Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED) commended the state government for adhering to the state’s Fiscal Responsibility Law 2016 in its budget process.
