Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno on Wednesday presented a budget proposal of about N155 billion for the 2016 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly for consideration.
Shettima presented the 2016 proposal, tagged as the Budget of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement at the House of Assembly in Maiduguri.
He said that the budget was made up of N103 billion capital expenditure and N51 billion recurrent expenditure.
Shettima said that the budget will be financed through N93 billion expected federal allocation and N29 billion internally generated revenue.
He said that the budget was about 25 per cent lower that the N175 billion budgeted for the 2015 fiscal year.
According to him, the education sector got the highest allocation of N27 billion due mainly to its importance in the development of the state.
He said that the Ministry of Works and Transport was allocated N16 billion, while the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation was allocated N11.5 billion.
Shettma said the newly created Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement was allocated N10.5 billion, while N10.2 billion was earmarked for the Ministry of Health.
He said that the Ministry of Agriculture got N8.6 billion, while the Ministry of Housing and Energy was allocated N4 billion, among other sectors.
Shettima explained that the fiscal policy was targeted at resettling communities ravaged by Boko Haram terrorists.
He lamented that the state was battling with a N2.7 billion monthly wage bill, which had exerted pressure on its meager resources.
Shettima said that government will conduct biometric data capturing of all its workers to flush out ghost and fake workers so that resources will be freed for developmental projects.
“Let me say categorically clear that the exercise is not aimed at sacking legitimate workers.
“Our aim is to uncover ghost and fake workers who have been making things difficult for us,” he said.
Shettima regretted that the state monthly wage bill had remained constant for years in spite of retirement and deaths of so many workers.
“The state government has placed embargo on employment since 1999, but the wage bill has remained same over the years,” he said.
Shettima expressed optimism that the data capturing will help uncover ghost workers and free resources for employing unemployed graduates in the state.
He appealed for understanding from labour unions towards the successful conduct of the exercise. (NAN)
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