Kano state Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has penned the state’s N177.9billion budget for the 2021 fiscal year.
Speaking shortly after assenting the appropriation bill on Wednesday, Ganduje said the N177,936,730,540 approved by the state’s House of Assembly is lower than that of 2020 because of the economic situation in the country and the state especially due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.
“However, it is not the size of the budget that matters but the implementation and the capacity to gather the resources so that we get at least 90% implementation. This is why it is a budget of reality,” he added.
He said the emphasis in the budget is on education, health and infrastructural facilities and for the education, the budget is aimed at realising the government’s policy of free and compulsory education from basic to secondary level.
Concerning health facilities, he said the government will strengthen the primary health facilities.
“We want at least one functional health facility in each of the 448 wards in the state,” he added.
“To reduce rural-urban migration, we decided to upgrade the hospital in each of the emirate council to a minimum of 400-bed capacity”, he said.
He added that this will include the introduction of eye and dental clinics in the rural areas.
He lauded the House of Assembly for exposing the budget to public hearing, which he said was unprecedented in Kano.
Meanwhile, the speaker, Hamisu Chidari, said all the lawmakers are proud to be part of the Ganduje-led government and “we will continue to give you all the support you need to transform our state.”
He said the new House leadership will maintain a cordial relationship with the two other arms of government.
