Kaduna Assembly officially passes N216.6bn budget for 2018

Kaduna State House of Assembly had on Wednesday passed into law the sum of N216.6billion for 2018 fiscal year, Owojela’s Blog learnt.

The lawmakers approved N85.4billion for recurrent expenditure and N131.2billion for capital expenditure.

The governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai had in October presented N216.5billion budget proposal to the state assembly for its consideration.

The amount passed showed an increase of N100million following the request from the health sector to fund the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital.

The law cited as the Appropriation Law, 2018 stated that the N216.6billion shall be appropriated for the purpose of and in the manner expressed in the schedule.

The chairman, house committee on appropriation, Ahmad Muhammad said the budget prior to its passage had undergone proper scrutiny to clear all grey areas.

The governor had at the presentation of the draft budget made known that the 2018 revenue and expenditure estimates are based on a robust medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) which he said assumed a $42 benchmark price for crude oil at production levels of 1.8million barrels per day, 17.5percent annual inflation, 1.9% projected real GDP growth and an exchange rate of N305 for the US dollar.

He however assured that the state government will stay focused on delivering on its promises while he commended the lawmakers for their dedication and service.