Kwara Assembly begins 2021 budget defence
The Kwara State House of Assembly, on Monday, commenced the defence of the 2021 budget proposals by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had last week presented a 2021 budget proposal of N123,091,307,468 to the parliament.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Engr Yakubu Danladi Salihu urged the head of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to approach the important State assignment with open mind and utmost sincerity in the interest of Kwarans, according to a statement by the Speaker’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Sheriff.
He said, “This is the second interface on budget; the first been on the 2020 Appropriation. As you are all aware, we have no other State other than Kwara, so let us feel free and be sincere in whatever we are doing. Let us defend only the defensible.
“As politicians, we are like soldiers, you are barracks and must therefore work together for the progress of Kwara state. The budget is for the people, we must therefore be guided by the need for the budget to ultimately serve the people’s interest for posterity sake.”
For his part, the Chairman, House Committee on Ethics, Privilege and Judiciary, Hon. Ganiyu Folabi Salahu noted that “the budget defense is an interface intended to rob minds on the contents of proposals as they concern each Ministry and Parastatal in the appropriation Bill presented before the Kwara state House of Assembly by His Excellency, the Governor on Tuesday 15th December, 2020”.
He added, “It is therefore expected that the proposals address the genuine needs of the Ministries or Parastatals to enable the Government of the day deliver on its promises to the people of the State.”
He further hinted that the proposal must above all, must be realistic and implementable in view of scarce resources.
The 2021 Ministerial budget defense starts with the Governor’s office, Office of the Head of Service and the Kwara state Ministry of Energy, Sherif’s statement concluded.
