The Kogi House of Assembly, on Wednesday, began a public hearing on Governor Yahaya Bello’s 2024 appropriation bill submitted on Monday.

The Speaker of the House, Umar Yusuf, chaired the public hearing, which had in attendance stakeholders that included civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Mr Yusuf, in his address, enjoined his fellow legislators to take a critical look at the appropriation bill, especially the areas that needed amendments, before passage.

“As lawmakers, we must give attention to all issues contained in the document and put everything in the right perspective in the interest of our state and residents.

“It is our duty to ensure that no sector or constituency is left out.

“This also entails that we must ensure timely passage of the budget,” he said.

Mr Bello had, on Monday, presented a N258.2bn 2024 appropriation bill before the lawmakers.

The 2024 draft budget, which is higher by N60.67bn compared to the N197.59bn revised approved budget of 2023, has a recurrent expenditure of N145.73bn (56.43%), and a capital expenditure of N112.54bn (43.57%)

The chairman, House Standing Committee on Appropriation, Economic Planning and Budget Monitoring, Jacob Olawumi, craved the support of CSOs, NGOs and other stakeholders to succeed in the assignment.

He said that the committee had the responsibility of analysing and making recommendations on incomes, allocations from the federation accounts, and internally generated revenue, among others.

He urged the stakeholders to bring in their wealth of experience in actualising the 2024 budget as it would benefit the entire state.

“The 8th assembly has been very passionate about public participation in the lawmaking process to bridge the gap between the government and the people,” he noted.

In their separate presentations, the managing director, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, Idris Maliki, urged the various committees to take a critical look at areas where recurrent expenditure is higher than the capital.

Mr Miliki noted that such situations would put the state “in a stagnant position”.

Also speaking, the executive director, Initiative for Grassroots Advancement in Nigeria (INGRA), Hamza Aliyu, advised the lawmakers to make plan for emergencies such as economic recession.

He also advocated some special provisions for the reticulation of the greater Lokoja water scheme.

Mr Aliyu said that there was a need to put the scheme in position to generate millions of gallons of water per day to end the city’s perennial water crisis.

He further stated that the reticulation of the Lokoja Greater Water Scheme was to ensure the effective distribution of water from the waterworks to parts of Lokoja and its environs.

(NAN)