The Plateau House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the 2020 appropriation bill of over N177.3 billion for the state.
This followed the report by the House Standing Committee on Appropriation presented at plenary by its Chairman, Mr Yahaya Adamu.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov. Simon Lalong of the state had on Nov. 26 presented over N172.5 billion to the assembly as budget for the 2020 fiscal year.
NAN also reports that the budget, tagged, ‘Budget of Rescue and Infrastructural Consolidation’, had over N98 billion as recurrent expenditure, while capital expenditure would gulp over N74 billion.
The assembly had on Dec. 3, passed the budget to second reading and committed the bill to its standing committee on appropriation.
According to Adamu, the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the state had defended their proposals before the standing committees of the house.
“Mr Speaker, you will recall that this house committed the 2020 appropriation bill to the committee on appropriation, after it was presented on Nov. 26 by the governor.
“After intense scrutiny of proposals of MDAs by various standing committees, this committee wishes to recommend that the sum of over N177.3 billion be approved as the budget size for the 2020 fiscal year.
“There is an addition of over N5 billion as recommended by this committee, against the initial figure of N172.5 billion as presented by the governor,” he said.
The chairman explained that the addition was appropriated for the state Road Maintenance Agency and for the legislative arm of the state.
He said that the committee urged the state government to ensure timely and constant release of funds for overhead and capital projects to MDAs, as provided in the budget.
He also said the committee called on government to lift the embargo on employment, to close the gaps existing in the civil service.
Adamu stressed the need for MDAs to buckle up and generate more revenue for the state.
The house later converged into a committee of the whole and considered the report, after which it approved and passed the appropriation bill through a voice vote.
