The Kogi State government has presented the 2023 draft budget.
Tagged ‘Budget of Transformation’, the draft budget amounts to N172,090,787,292.00 against the 2022 budget of N167,301,962 197.00. It is also higher than this year’s budget by N4, 788, 825, 095.00, representing a 2.86 percent increase.
Bello noted the draft revenue and expenditure estimates are divided into Recurrent Expenditure of N101, 315,129,341 (58.87 percent) and Capital Expenditure N70, 775, 657, 951 (41.13 percent).
Presenting the budget at the Speaker’s Lodge in Lokoja, on Wednesday, Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi State, pointed out that the 2023-2025 multi-year budget is premised on zero-based budgeting principle and is tailored towards the actualization of the state development plan. The key targets from a fiscal perspective include ensuring the actualization of development priorities of the state government as articulated in the Kogi State development plan and respective Sector Implementation Plans (SIPs).
Read also: Kogi DSS refutes Shafiu Ibrahim wife’s allegations
Other targets of the budget include: maintaining a favourable proportion of capital to Recurrent Expenditure, completion of all ongoing projects and adding new projects to in the critical areas of needs and providing conducive environment for investors and donor agencies to operate in the state.
Governor Bello equally explained that the 2023 draft budget is designed for enhanced mobilizations of Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR), collection of debt owned the state by Federal Government, recovery of state’s equity share in Obajana Cement Company, provision of more conducive environment for the development partners from all over the world to contribute to the state’s economy, adding that it will attract private sector investment to the state and encourage public private partnerships .
Bello noted that the 2023 budget is an instrument that will guide his administration’s effort to fire up the state’s economy and keep it burning, adding that it is designed to capture only realizable revenues.
It would be recalled that in the wee hours on Monday October 10, 2022, the Kogi State of House of Assembly chambers was engulfed by fire and the state government is still working to unravel the origin of that fire, which is mysterious.
“Until the cause is known and culprits apprehended, we shall neither act rashly nor speculate widely,” the governor assured.
