Abdulmalik Abubakar-Gajam, Zamfara commissioner for budget and economic planning, says the ‘2024 Rescue Budget’ is designed to emancipate the state from shambles and chaotic situations.

Mr Abubakar-Gajam said this in an interview on the sidelines of the International Youth Day Commemoration on Thursday in Sokoto.

The commissioner, also the Zamfara Economic Planning Board chairman, said Zamfara had no working document and implementable fiscal policy until Governor Dauda Lawal assumed power.

He explained that Zamfara lacked policy law to guide the Zamfara government activities and had no roadmap for the rising population to promote a quality future from the immediate past administration.

The commissioner stressed that the present ‘Rescue Budget’ was intentional and strategic in reversing the anomaly, providing citizens with potable water, dealing with security challenges, and reducing the debt burden.

Mr Abubakar-Gajam noted that the present administration had paid about N20 billion in loans inherited from the past regime and did not collect any, “this is just to salvage the state from burden.”

He highlighted that the present budget “is three times bigger than the past” due to increased internally generated revenue and the fuel subsidy removal windows.

The commissioner said Zamfara had ineffective agricultural programmes and non-functional health facilities without manpower, expertise, or infrastructure.

He observed that in the past budgets, recurrent expenditure garnered a high percentage, meaning that spending more on luxuries, which add no value to economic growth, thereby experienced low allocation to capital expenditure.

The commissioner added that the past government spent more than what it received from the federation account and its internally generated revenue.

Mr Abubakar-Gajam explained the Zamfara Economic Planning Board was developing and implementing economic policies and plans to promote sustainable development and growth in the state.

“It is expected to play a key role in driving economic progress and prosperity in the region,” he said.

He added that since its inception, the present administration in the state ensured that all its expenditures were in line with the people’s interests. 

(NAN)