The Zamfara House of Assembly, on Friday, passed the 2024 appropriation bill of N426.5 billion.

The passage followed the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, presented by its chairman, Halliru Abdullahi, during the plenary session.

Governor Dauda Lawal recently presented a N423.5 billion appropriation bill to the House. The budget comprised N305.3 billion capital expenditure and N118.7 billion as recurrent expenditure.

Mr Abdullahi, representing Zurmi East Constituency, said the estimate passed by the assembly was higher than what the governor presented by over N3 billion.

“The committee, after an interface with the various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for the defence of their estimates, recommended N426.5 billion for passage.

“The sum of N304.8 billion was allocated to capital expenditure, while N121.7 billion was allocated for recurrent expenditure,’’ Mr Abdullahi said.

The committee further recommended that the Ministry of Finance and that of Budget and Economic Planning shall have regular meetings to strategise financial records and reporting of actual expenditures of MDAs.

He said the committee found a remarkable improvement in revenue generation projections from MDAs compared to 2022.

The lawmakers unanimously adopted the report thereafter.

The bill was also read the third time by the clerk, Mahmud Muhammad, as directed by the speaker, Bilyaminu Moriki.

Mr Moriki said the appropriation bill was passed as N426.5 billion from the consolidated revenue fund of the state in respect of the year ending December 31, 2024.

He thanked the committee members and other lawmakers for their commitment and dedication, which he said led to the bill’s timely passage.

(NAN)