Kwara state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Wednesday laid a budget of N189.4bn before the state House of Assembly for the 2022 fiscal year.
The budget represent 12.5 % increase over the revised 2021 budget with focus on completing ongoing projects and initiating new ones .
Capital expenditure gulped the lion share wit 55.3 percent of the fiscal plan and the remaining 44.7percent going for recurrent.
“The 2022 budget proposal we are presenting today has been designed to sustain the tempo of this phenomenal growth (we have recorded). It is therefore called Budget of Sustained Reformation for Inclusive Growth,” he said.
“The size of the fiscal plan is N189,494,692,524, representing a 12.15% increase over the 2021 revised budget. It has 44.7% recurrent component, with provisions for payment of consequential adjustment of the minimum wage. With 55.3% capital expenditure, the objective is to fund ongoing projects and initiate new ones as resources permit. For instance, we plan to fund many priority power projects across the state, secondary water reticulation projects, shea butter processing plant at Omilende, Patigi hotel, rural roads under RAAMP, Montebeliarde Ranch project, KWASU campuses at Osi and Ilesha Baruba, among others.
“The budget is built on the assumptions of oil price of 57 US Dollars per barrel; daily oil production estimate of 1.88 million barrels/day; Exchange rate of N410 per US Dollar; and GDP growth projected at 4.20 percent and inflation closing at 13 percent”.
The goverrnor said his government has” over the period of time delivered on our many electoral promises to restore the glory of Kwara state in basic education, basic healthcare, provision .
“Our efforts are paying off as various data sets have shown. Of special note is how much we have done in retooling the local economy and deepening financial inclusion for the poor. In a recent survey, Kwara came first nationwide in enabling business environment index, second in perception of opportunities index, third in business performance index, and fourth in State Entrepreneurial Index.”
He listed some ongoing projects of the administration to include the Innovation Hub, Visual Arts Centre, Osi-Obbo Road, Garment Factory, Ilesha-Gwanara Road, new Dental and Eye facilities at Ilorin General Hospital, Oro General Hospital, Lafiagi General Hospital, Kishi-Kaiama Road, International Conference Centre, the Tunde Idiagbon Bridge at Tanke, Special Agroprocessing Zone, and sporting facilities.
The government, meanwhile, has received the first tranche of €3.5m from the French Development Agency to implement some of the projects captured under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) across the state.
