Kwara Assembly passes N157bn as 2019 budget

By Mumini AbdulKareem
The Kwara State House of Assembly on Thursday passed N157,8 billion as 2019 Appropriation bill for the state.
The passage of the budget is coming two weeks after Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed presented a bill of N157,504,952,561 to the House on Thursday 6th December, 2018 for passage.
The budget is however 0.19 per cent higher than what the Governor had earlier presented.
The capital expenditure of the 2019 budget now stood at N79,5 billion against N79,7 billion proposed by the Governor, representing 50.44 percent of the total budget size.
The recurrent expenditure stood at N71,1billion as against N70,657,7 billion representing 49.56% of the total budget.
The House equally in conformity with its law, allocated N1,2 billion as one per cent of the state Consolidated Revenue Fund, for the State Health Insurance scheme
This measure was to ensure accessibility to qualitative healthcare delivery by the people of the state.
Speaking after the passage of the budget, the Speaker, Dr Ali Ahmad, while directing the Clerk of the House, Hajia Halimat Kperogi, to prepare a clean copy of the budget for Governor’s assent, explained that with the passage of the budget, the House had demonstrated its commitment and high sense of patriotism.
He however expressed displeasure of non funding of the audit unit by the state government, pointing out that the eighth legislature under his watch, had been consistent in allocating fund for the Audit department, to ensure accountability and transparency in governance.