Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba State has presented three hundred and eleven billion, three hundred and eighty eight million, five hundred and twenty five thousand, six hundred and sixty one naira, nighty six Kobo as the 2024 appropriation bill.
Presenting the budget estimate titled “Budget of Moving Forward” to the Taraba State House of Assembly on Friday, Kefas said that one hundred and eleven billion, six hundred and sixty nine million, five hundred and ninety five thousand, three hundred and fifty eight naira, fifty nine kobo is for recurrent expenditure which represents thirty nine point five percent.
Meanwhile, one hundred and ninety nine billion, seven hundred and eighty million, seven hundred and thirty thousand, three hundred and three naira point thirty seven kobo is for capital expenditure which represents sixty four point one percent of the budget.
Also breaking down the appropriation bill by the Governor, education has the highest allocation of forty three billion, two hundred and eight million, two hundred and seventy eight thousand, eight hundred and forty nine naira point twenty eight Kobo, presenting thirteen point nine percent of the budget followed by governance, and Health sectors.
He explained that the budget will place specific focus on education including improvement of schools, teacher training, among others.
According to Kefas, five percent of the budget will be allocated to the Greening Taraba Project to preserve the natural beauty of the State and mitigate the effect of climate change.
Earlier, the Speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly, John Bonzena who highlighted some of the achievements recorded by the present administration commended Governor Agbu Kefas for his vision for the development of the State in his five fingers agenda.
Bonzena also acknowledged the good working relationship between the executive and the legislature in the State, and assured of a speedy passage of the budget to keep up with the January-December timeframe.
However, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Culture and Tourism, and Member representing Nguroje State Constituency, Hon. Nelson Len while fielding questions from newsmen explained that the 2.9 percent of the budget allocated to the security sector was because a lot has been done so far in the sector.
According to him, the said allocation will be used to augment the equipments that have already been purchased by the State government to tackle the insecurity in the State.
He said the house will follow due process before passing the budget into law, adding that they will invite all the MDAs to also come and defend their budgets, assuring that the Legislature and the Executive arm will continue to work in synergy for the development of Taraba State.
