Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has presented the 2023 budget proposal to the State House of Assembly for deliberation and passage into Law as contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

Speaking during the presentation on Thursday, the governor noted that the 2023 Budget, being the last in his first term of four years, was coming at a period of great uncertainties and challenges, both locally and globally.

“From the Covid-19 pandemic, the crash of oil prices, economic recession and geopolitical conflicts across the world, we have in the past three-and-half years, weathered various storms to safely sail the ship of our common destiny towards progress.

“As we prepare for all-important national elections next year, I have no doubt that I will appear before this Honorable House next year – inshaaAllah – to present the 2024 Budget,” he said.

Gov Yahaya also appreciated members of the House for the role they played since the inception of his administration in 2019.

In his words, “As this marks the final budget presentation in my first term, it is important to acknowledge the excellent working relationship that exists between the executive and the legislative arms of government.

“This is borne out of our respect for the principle of separation of powers and adherence to the rule of law. I urge this honourable house to continue on this noble trajectory.”

Giving a review of the 2022 budget implementation, the governor said the administration proposed the sum of N154,963,964,000.00 for the 2022 fiscal year.

He said the 2022 budget was made up of N70,000,564,000.00 as recurrent expenditure and N84,963,400,000.00 as capital expenditure, representing 45.2% and 54.8% respectively.

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According to the governor, after extensive deliberations, the Honorable House passed the sum of N154,963,964,000.00 as the appropriation bill for the year 2022, made up of 46.43% recurrent expenditure and 53.6% capital expenditure.

Gov Yahaya recalled that “the revised 2022 budget was expected to be financed by an estimated recurrent revenue of N97,675,687,424.47 only, capital receipts of N72,070,000,000.00 only, and a closing balance of N14,781,723,424.47.”

He added that the recurrent revenue performance as of 30th September 2022 stood at N72,146,477,365.70 representing 73.86% of the recurrent revenue projections.

“The recurrent expenditure performance was N44,554,494,494.58 for the same period representing 62% of the recurrent expenditure budget.  The sum of N59,119,416,186.96 was generated as capital receipts, representing a performance of 82% of our projected capital receipts.  For the capital budget, the sum of N48,211,252,447.58 was expended on capital projects and programmes representing 58% of capital expenditure estimates.

“Overall budget performance stood at N92,765,746,942.16 as at 30th September, 2022, representing 60% of the total budget size.  The detailed sectoral performances are contained in the budget performance report submitted together with the 2023 budget proposal,” the governor said.

On the 2023 budget proposal, Gov Yahaya said, “to continue providing for the developmental needs of the people of Gombe State in the 2023 fiscal year, we proposed a budget in the sum of N173,697,242,000.00 only. This is made up of N71,856,492,000.00 only for recurrent expenditure representing 41.4%, and NGN101,840,750,000.00 only for capital expenditure, representing 58.6% of the total budgeted sum.

“We envisage to generate the sum of NGN100,615,640,000.00 only as recurrent revenue, and the sum of N74,700,000,000.00 only as capital receipts. Our estimated closing balance for 2023 is expected to be N1,618,398,000.00 only.”