The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, laid before the parliament on Thursday an N296.4bn fiscal plan for the year 2024, with capital expenditure guzzling a whopping 61% of the proposed spending and recurrent keeping the balance of 39%.
The budget is 15.5% higher than the budget of the outgoing year and has an opening balance of N25bn, according to the governor.
AbdulRazaq also unveiled the state plan for a new minimum wage, which he said is due for negotiation next year, as well as the establishment of an 18,000-hectare Smart City Satellite Town in Ilorin, the state capital.
The budget session was presided over by the Kwara State House of Assembly Speaker Rt. Hon. Yakubu Danladi-Salihu.
AbdulRazaq said, “The next four years will serve to consolidate on the gains of our first term, expand the economic base of this lovely state through completion of ongoing infrastructural projects and commencement of new ones, make the state more self-sustaining by widening the revenue base, create more private sector-driven jobs, and better the lots of our people.
“In the new year, we will formally inaugurate our flagship projects like the garment factory, visual arts centre, Tunde Idiagbon bridge, innovation hub, sugar film factory, the two campuses of Kwara State University, shea butter factory in Kaiama, among others.
“These, In sha Allah, will create tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the new year, and spread collective prosperity on a sustainable basis.
Punch / Arafat Ayofe
