by Ajadi Daniel
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau yesterday presented a budget proposal of N132.7bn to the State Assembly, with N30.3 billion allocated to the economic sector.
The budget tagged: “Budget of Rescue and Confidence Building” is less than the 2016 estimate with a sum of N13,993,888,823.00.
The budget estimate has a capital receipt of N56,802,716,398.00, consisting of N9,009,000,000.00 as value added, N25,000,000,000.00 as refunds from paris club loan deductions, N3,565,783,000.00, from donor agencies and N2,972,910,509.00 for grants and contributions from the Federal Government and World Bank Assisted projects.
The budget also has a deficit financing amount of N16,587,841,835.00 which will be drawn from both internal and external sources to augment the revenue.
The capital expenditure estimate represents 48.44 per cent while the recurrent expenditure is 51.56 per cent.
Though the governor did not say anything about budget performance for 2016, it is likely to be the same old story of the context of economic development in Plateau which is in the light of the crisis experienced in the state.
This challenge experienced by Plateau has not help accountability and transparency in any way. Since it is nothing but a distraction from government. It is very difficult to tell what administration do with allocation or budgetary allocations in times of crisis. The complexity and nature of the situation even makes it difficult for people or bodies to demand accountability of them.
There is no doubting the fact that government activities come to a stop in times of crisis, but what happens to the funds meant for projects, especially when these projects can no longer be carried out.
Let us have your views on this.