Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state yesterday signed into law the 2014 Appropriation Bill which was recently approved by the House of Assembly.
The appropriation bill which initially stood at N176 billion was adjusted by the House to N204 billion.
Shettima while signing into law the bill at a brief ceremony held at the Government House Council Chambers in Maiduguri described the event as “a milestone in the history of the state.”
He said the budget was meant to address crucial issues of poverty, education, health and infrastructure development, adding that government would deploy huge resources to procure food items for the people affected by Boko Haram insurgency, especially in the rural areas.
The governor commended the House for the “speedy passage of the bill” and for their excellent working relationship with the executive arm of government,” noting that such mutual understanding was worthy of emulation “judging from what is happening in other states.”
Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Abdulkarim Lawan, while presenting copies of the budget to the governor for his assent, said the sum of N176 billion was presented to the house by the executive on December 31, 2013.
He, however, said the House was compelled to increase the budget size with N26 billion following increasing needs of the people.
He said: “You will recall that you made promises to some local governments to construct roads and schools. So, the house in conjunction with the joint committees on appropriation, finance, budget and planning discovered that these were not included in the budget and as such, we decided to increase the budget size to N204 billion to carter for these promises.”