Niger State Assembly Passes 2025 Budget Estimate into Law
From Rashidat Abdulrahman, Minna
The Niger State House of Assembly has passed into law the 2025 budget estimate, totaling over 1.5 trillion naira.
Presenting the report on the floor of the House, Hon. Zubairu Ismaila, the chairman of the House Committee on Planning and Appropriation and a member representing Rafi State Constituency, stated that the committee dedicated considerable time to ensure that they met the deadline given to them.
Ismaila explained that the committee made some adjustments to the budget based on their observations; however, these changes did not affect the overall budget size. Notably, 20 million naira was transferred from the pension and gratuities fund and added to the 50 million naira proposed for the recurrent expenditure of the Assembly Service Commission, increasing the total to 70 million naira. He emphasized that this adjustment is intended to accommodate the anticipated implementation of the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure for legislative staff, as well as the legislative duty allowance and overhead costs for the commission.
The report also indicated that the chairman observed the late submission of the budget, which resulted in a rushed scrutiny process to ensure a timely passage.
He further recommended that the executive arm should submit the budget to the legislature at least three months before the end of the year for proper scrutiny and timely approval.
It is worth noting that on Thursday, December 12, 2024, Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago presented a budget size of 1,558,887,565,358 naira to the State Assembly for 2025.
