Gombe State Government said, on Monday, that its 2022 appropriation bill would only entertain what the people of the State had sat down to demand from the government.
The State Governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, had, last week, at a town hall meeting with representatives of different communities criticised the immediate past administration in the State for wasting billions of naira on projects that had no bearing on the ordinary man in the rural areas.
But rising from the State Executive Council Meeting Monday afternoon, the State Government reiterated its commitment to providing a people-oriented budget that would have no place for white elephants.
Addressing journalists shortly after the State Executive Council meeting, the State Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr Julius Ishaya Lapes, said the council had observed and made corrections where necessary on the proposed budget which would be presented to the State House of Assembly on Thursday 11th November 2021.
While de-emphasising the total amount to be presented, he assured the people of Gombe State that the proposal was not going to be different from the input made by the stakeholders.
“The budget is going to be a reflection of what the people want. It will be transparent, all-inclusive, avoid white elephant projects (sic) and will be guided by this administration’s principle of public spending” Mr Lapes stated.
He said the council also approved an additional N771,846,000 for an ongoing road project in the Funakaye Local Government Area of the State.
He explained that it was for additional work for the construction of a three-span bridge instead of culverts on kwanar Gogaru – Almakashi – Jagabari to Kuka Bakwai road as the culverts could not stand the test of time.
According to him, this had jerked up the entire road project cost to a little over N2.839 billion.
The road construction is a joint project between Funakaye LG which is bearing 40% of the cost while the State Government is handling 60% of the cost.
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