Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani on Tuesday unveiled the state’s draft budget of N458.271 billion for 2024–2026 at a 2023 town hall meeting.

The budget was tagged “ Budget of Rural Transformation and Inclusive Development.”

Mr Sani said the budget focused on agriculture, regional, rural and economic development, security, infrastructure, and human capital development.

He said it would also revitalise the economies of people in rural areas and support them.

The governor explained that 25 per cent of the draft budget went to education, adding that the sector serves as the bedrock of any meaningful development.

Mr Sani assured that all the children in the state would have free and quality education at all levels.

He explained further that 15 per cent of the budget has been earmarked to improve healthcare service delivery across the state.

Delivering his remarks, the state Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission, Mukhtar Ahmed, said the gathering was to deliberate on the most important policy document in government.

The commissioner, who gave the budget breakdown, said the total proposed recurrent expenditure was N139,434,722,889.38 billion, while the total proposed capital expenditure stood at N318,836,576,588.28 billion.

Mr Ahmed stated that the budget’s size aligns with the expected revenue.

He added that the economic uncertainties and shocks caused by the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and the forex exchange rate policy were considered. The budget baseline model of a 60:40 ratio of capital to recurrent was maintained.

The proposed budget allocates 25.19 per cent and 15.63 per cent to the education and health sectors. These two sectors account for about 40.82 per cent of the total budget.

(NAN)