Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Kwara state governor yesterday presented a N189,436,248,054.00 appropriation bill for 2023 to the State House of Assembly.
The budget tagged, “Economic Expansion and Sustainable Development,” has recurrent expenditure of 49.1% and the capital component of 50.9%.”
Presenting the appropriation bill at the floor of the State House of Assembly, the state governor, Alhaji AbdulRazaq said, “the fiscal document focuses on strengthening the current gains and is built around the Kwara State Sustainable Development Plan 2021-2030, Medium Term Sector Strategy 2021-2023 and citizens’ need Assessments.”
He added: “Today, I stand before this Honourable House to present the 2023 appropriation bill. This fiscal document is as significant in its provisions as it is in expanding the gains of the past three years for maximum socioeconomic benefits of the state.
“With the support of this House and the good people of Kwara State, our government has delivered on key campaign promises in education, healthcare delivery, provision of potable water, agriculture, poverty reduction, gender mainstreaming, youth and women empowerment, financial inclusion, workers’ welfare, infrastructure, and rural urban development.
“Under us, Kwara has shed horrible indices and broken new positive grounds across development sectors. This is all due to our commitments to inclusive growth.
“Of particular interest are the recent positive data on healthcare delivery, poverty rate, unemployment rate, and fiscal management of the state. All of these show that Kwara is a lot better today than we met it.”
He added, “I’m glad to report that our investment in the premier hospital has earned the state university an accreditation to begin Medicine and Surgery for the first time.
“In the outgoing fiscal year, we expanded economic opportunities for the people and executed many impactful projects and programmes across sectors, while many are near completion.”
He noted that, “The commencement of the KwaraLEARN initiative has raised school attendance by 43% in four pilot local government areas of Baruten, Ilorin East, Ilorin West, and Offa.
“We have delivered a new waterworks at Dumagi, new and well-equipped Dental, Eye, Renal, ICU facilities, and an expansive new ward.
“The Garment Factory, Visual Arts Centre, Innovation Hub, General Tunde Idiagbon Bridge, Osi-Obbo Aiyegunle Road, Adeta-Yebumot-AlHikmah University Road, Ilesha Gwanara Road, Osi and Ilesha Baruba Campuses of KWASU, Oro General Hospital, Jebba Waterworks, among others, are all near completion.
“For the first time, we are 90% set to deliver a game-changing Electronic Management System (EMS) for our hospitals in Ilorin, Kaiama, and Offa. We have also completed the first radio station in Kwara North and 39 Digital Literacy Centres across the state.”
The Governor said the new budget places more emphases on continuous infrastructural development, completion of ongoing road projects, agribusinesses, irrigation and mechanisation, workers’ welfare, rural electrification, and improved water reticulation, among others.
Chaired by the Speaker, Yakubu Salihu Danladi, the budget presentation session was attended by Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi; representative of the Chief Judge Justice Olalekan Adegbite; Acting Grand Kadi Justice Abdullateef Kamaldeen; among others.
The Speaker commended the Governor for his efforts to steadily bridge the huge infrastructural gap in the state and for his focus on workers’ welfare, provision of basic amenities, and prudent management of public resources.
He assured AbdulRazaq of the readiness of the House to ensure timely passage of the budget after proper scrutiny as constitutionally required for the benefit of the people of Kwara State.
