Kwara govt plans loans as Gov presents N123bn 2021 budget
The Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has disclosed that his administration might take loans in 2021 to fund projects to attract investments and widen the economic base of the state.
He hinted that these projects are necessary to bridge the huge infrastructural gaps across various sectors in the State.
The governor disclosed this while presenting the budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year to the state assembly in Ilorin, the state capital on Tuesday.
The 2021 budget proposal, tagged: ‘Budget of Reformation and Inclusive Growth’, has N56,622,001,435.28 as capital expenditure and N66,469,306,032.72 as recurrent expenditure.
The Governor explained that the outgoing year recorded appreciable infrastructural development and key interventions in various sectors, regardless of the financial crisis wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown.
He said, “The 2021 fiscal plan is built on the modest successes of the outgoing year, with strategic emphasis on reforms and inclusive growth. However, its fundamentals are dictated by the global economic realities, low revenue projections, and a need to prioritise basic needs of the people as we recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19. I will therefore be laying before you a budget estimate of N123,091,307,468. That is 7.35% bigger than the revised 2020 budget,” he told the Parliament.
“Our priorities in the new fiscal year would include payment of the new minimum wage, cash-backed promotion for workers who passed the recent examination, tech-driven reforms in the education sector through our Kwaralearn initiative, social security for the vulnerable, cottage industries, rehabilitation of sporting facilities, and investments in the ideas of our youths through Kwapreneur. Ongoing and new infrastructural projects such as the Innovation Hub, Visual Arts Centre, courtrooms and school rehabilitation, and upgrading of health facilities will also be funded.”
AbdulRazaq emphasized that agriculture remains top priority as part of our strategies for food security. He said, “Appreciable sums have been allocated to irrigation system, and purchase of fertilisers and farm implements. At least 10,000 rural women are to benefit from the Noiler programme which we are keying into.
“And nearly two years into the new administration, we have made provisions for purchase of vehicles for political office holders within reasonable limit.
“Given the huge infrastructural gaps across various sectors and our agenda for inclusive growth, we may take bonds in the new year to fund critical projects to attract investments and widen the economic base of the state.
“Our commitment to prudent management of public resources remains unshaken. We will also at all time prioritise the welfare of the people who have entrusted us with their mandate, while every segment of our society is accorded their right.”
Education gulps a huge chunk of 25.5% of the budget proposal, an improvement from last year, followed by health which grabs 13.7%. Economic affairs — a category that includes road construction and other infrastructural projects — is also taking another 25.7%, indicating the administration’s intention to spend its way through the current recession and other hardships imposed by the pandemic. The general public service, a budget subhead that deals with the civil service, gets 26.5 of the votes.
