Sani signs budget of sustaining rural transformation

Gov. Uba Sani has signed the 2025 budget of ‘Sustaining Transformation and Inclusive Development’, ten days after he presented the draft proposal to the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

The budget focused on rural development, and the total sum is N790, 439, 580, 083 budget.

The sums earmarked for capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure are N551,582,867, 194 and N238,856,712,888.86, respectively.

Speaking after signing the budget on Monday, the Governor commended the assembly for the speedy passage of the budget within 10 days of presenting the proposed appropriation bill.

The governor said that the legislature had invited all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to defend their budget proposals and the sessions were robust, adding, but at the end of the day, the 2025 budget was passed.

“Here in Kaduna State, I can say without fear of contradiction that we have the best House of Assembly in the country.

“If you look at the members, there are APC and PDP legislators but they have relegated politics and are only focusing on governance. For me, this is highly commendable.

“About ten days ago, I was at the House of Assembly chambers where I presented our 2025 budget proposal.

”All the MDAs were invited and they defended their budgets. I was following the debate and I can say it was one of the most thorough budget defence in the history of Kaduna State.”

Sani expressed delight that the legislators passed the appropriation bill within ten days, saying,” this is something that I will continue to be proud of.

“Apart from the budget, the number of motions, and bills they have sponsored, I can say that this is the best state assembly.

“As a former Senator who has the highest number of bills during the last senate, I sponsored more that 32 bills, so there is nobody that can give our lawmakers that credit better than me.’’

Speaking earlier, the Speaker of the assembly, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Liman, said that the signing of the 2025 budget by the governor marked an important milestone in the activities of the Assembly.

According to him, the budget proposal underwent thorough scrutiny before it was passed by the legislators.

He thanked Sani for working closely with the assembly to bring the direly needed dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

‘’The determination of the Uba Sani-led administration to create an enabling environment for developmental projects across the state can never be overemphasized,’’ he said.

The speaker said the governor had not only continued with some abandoned projects, ‘’but had also initiated commendable ones. His commitment to rural development is noteworthy.”

Giving a breakdown of the 2025 budget, the Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmed, said education got the largest chunk of the budget 26 per cent.

Also, health has 16 per cent while public infrastructure and agriculture have 13 per cent and 9.5 per cent, respectively.

According to him, the sectoral allocations reflected the administration’s emphasis on human capital development and agriculture.

Ahmed said, “This is the second budget of His Excellency and he has prioritised agriculture.

“While we have 7 per cent in this current year, in 2025 agriculture will have 9.5 per cent because of the impact agriculture has made.”

He said that 42 per cent of the state’s GDP was from agriculture, adding, ”I’m sure that if we maintain this tempo, it will be higher by next year.’’