Bauchi State Exco  Approves 2o22 Proposed Budget

Bauchi State Executive Council on Friday evening approved the 2022 proposed budget after hours of deliberations by the council members chaired by Governor Bala Mohammed of the state.

Addressing journalists on the outcome of the council meeting, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Aminu Hammayo said with this development, the budget will soon be presented to the state house of assembly for passage.

Aminu Hammayo said in preparation of the proposed budget, the state government adopted strong measures to curtail expenditures that are not critical as part of an effort to tackle borrowing.

“The special meeting of the council today is to consider the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022 and after looking at the document critically, the council approved it for presentation to the State House of Assembly.”

“Suggestions for improvement on what we presented was received and the most important thing is that external and internal grants were also considered in coming up with the budget.”

The Commissioner told the journalists that the focus of the administration is on the critical areas of the social sector which comprise health, education, agriculture, youth, and women empowerment among others.

Governor Bala Mohammed had earlier on the commencement of the council meeting, said the 2022 proposed budget captured ongoing and abandoned projects of the previous administration so as to ensure their full completion.

“Our 2022 proposed budget is a budget of consolidation on the projects of my administration aimed at repositioning the state in the name of Bauchi renewal, most of our projects are either completed or 50 percent completion in works, housing, transport, education, agriculture, and health sectors.”

“We are always guided by the global best practice where we try as much as possible for our capital allocation to be higher than the normal statutory allocation in the area of overhead and I appreciate council members for their sacrifice which enable us to change the narration in governance in Bauchi through leaving legacies and landmarks of achievements.”

The governor, therefore, said the proposed budget also captured the autonomy of the judiciary and legislative arms of government in the state to enable them to be financially independent.