Kaduna to fund budget with IGR soon, says commissioner

Kaduna State Government says that the state is progressing and plans to stop relying on federal allocation to fund its budget in the next few years.

State Commissioner and Chairman of the State Budget and Planning Commission, Muhammad Sani, said in his remarks at the public hearing held at the Kaduna State House of Assembly on the 2022 appropriation bill.

According to him, “we are progressing and in the next few years Kaduna can provide for infrastructure and other obligations with its own money so that whatever comes from the federal allocation will be an addition.”

He said that the state has been boosting its tax collections with about N57bn which has come with a lot of hard work and partnership with the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

“In 2015 when this government came in, the highest that has been achieved was N13bn annually and we are very happy today that we are at N57bn because of the continued support of the State House of Assembly and the first law that was passed was the consolidated law which opened the doors for rise in internal revenue generation by the state,” he said.

The commissioner disclosed that the state government relies only on only about 31 per cent from federal allocation while some other states rely on 70-80 per cent from federal allocation.

He further explained that “they have been able to move the state from a state that completely relies on federal allocation to the one that is sustainable.

“There are states who are owing 5-8 month salary because of reliance on federal allocations.

“It is important that we note this and understand that we will bring more and more bills to the house and more initiatives to state and understanding revenue to the state is the most important thing to do.”

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