By Gbenga Akingbule.
Speaker of Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkarim Lawan has at the weekend said the people of the state should expect more development projects in 2024 as the State House of Assembly is always poised to give Governor Babagana Zulum the needed legislative backing to carry out his duties.
Gatekeepers News reports that Lawan added that the Assembly is already working round the clock to ensure a speedy passage of the 2024 appropriation bill before the end of the year.
This was revealed while the Speaker was reacting to the 340 billion Appropriation Bill presented to the State Assembly by Governor Zulum in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
According to the Speaker, Members of the State House of Assembly are desirous of more development projects in their constituencies and are always ready to give the desired legislative backing that will ensure the speedy implementation of projects in all parts of Borno State.
“The Borno State Governor has done well in implementing the 2023 Appropriation Law. We will continue to support the Governor to succeed in bringing development to our people,” The Speaker said.
The Speaker revealed that given the success stories recorded by the State Government in virtually all sectors, “the House will continue to collaborate and sustain the cordial working relation between the Executive and the Legislative Arm for the betterment of all citizens across the 27 local government areas in the state.”
Lawan stated that shortly after Governor Zulum presented the 2024 Appropriation Bill, “the House of Assembly constitutionally sat and deliberated upon it, the next day, the budget passed first and second readings – recall that the Appropriation Bill Tagged ‘Budget of Consolidation and Progress’ has a total of N198,293,223,000 allocated for capital expenditure, while N142,326,613,000.00 was allocated for recurrent expenditure.
“We have mandated all the House Committee Chairmen to invite respective representatives of the various ministries to defend their budgetary allocations for the needful, and I would like to assure the Government and the good people of Borno State that the State House of Assembly will leave up to its constitutional responsibilities, considering the good intentions of the government, especially what was contained in the 2024 budget where massive construction of roads, mega schools, health care facilities, poverty Alleviation, provision of mass transit and many developmental projects across the state were itemized for implementation,” the Speaker said.
