By: Danjuma Attah, Gombe
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has signed the 208.064 billion Gombe State’s 2024 Appropriation Bill into law.
The State House of Assembly had recently passed the two Hundred and Eight Billion, Sixty-Four Million Naira (N208,064,000,000.00) which the Governor signed to make it a law during a brief ceremony at the Council Chamber of the Government House on Friday evening.
The Assembly had increased the budget size by Three Hundred Million Naira (N300,000,000.00) From the initial proposal submitted by the Governor.
Governor Inuwa had presented the sum of Two Hundred and Seven Billion, Seven Hundred and Fifty Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N207,750,200,000.00) as the State’s 2024 appropriation to the State House of Assembly.
The break down of the budget indicates an allocation of 58% for capital expenditure and 42%, for recurrent, indicating a rise in the capital expenditure for the first time in the budget of the state.
Before signing the bill into law, Governor Inuwa Yahaya commended the lawmakers for the expeditious passage of the appropriation bill, appreciating the longstanding collaboration between the executive and legislative arms, particularly in maintaining the January to December budget cycle.
“Let me commend the leadership and members of the House of Assembly, especially the House Committee on Appropriations for the enormous work done to ensure the expeditious passage of the appropriation bill. The speedy passage of the bill reaffirms the harmonious relationship between the executive and the legislative arms”, the Governor said.
According to the Governor, “Since our assumption of office during our first tenure in 2019, the House of Assembly has always been cooperative.
“The lawmakers have never failed to act on our requests for passage of annual or supplementary budgets, and on all other requests that needed the approval of the House. We are grateful for the support of the House to our leadership”, the Governor added.
He said the 2024 budget, tagged ‘Budget of Continuity and Consolidation’ will leverage on the gains of the previous budgets, adding that the Appropriation Act has resources allocated for increased infrastructure, enhanced healthcare services, improved education, human capital development, and job creation, among other priorities.
In his remarks, Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Mohammed Abubakar Luggerewo, commended Governor Inuwa Yahaya on the 2023 budget performance, assuring continued legislative support to ensure that the 2024 budget surpasses that of the 2023 in terms of performance.
He said, expressed the gratitude of Members of the State House of Assembly to His Excellency for the budget items stressing that the budget reflects the Governor’s commitment to the well-being of Gombe people.
“It is based on this that we recognize crucial areas needing attention and augmented the budget by 300 million Naira”, the Speaker remarked.
