Kaduna State Government’s First Quarter Budget Performance Report has revealed that the state spent N43.8 billion out of the N89.1 billion generated in the first quarter of 2023.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the report was given by the Office of the Accountant General with assistance from the Planning and Budget Commission in Kaduna on Tuesday.
It was revealed that the N89.1 billion earned and the N43.8 billion spent equaled 23.7% and 11.7% of the N376.5 billion total budget for the year, respectively.
The study also revealed that during the first three months of the year, the state got N41.1 billion in recurrent revenue, which is 22.4% of the N183.4 billion budgeted revenue.
The State Government’s part of Statutory Revenue, which included VAT, an electronic money transfer fee, a FOREX equalization charge, and a portion of augmentation, was received at N23.1 billion.
According to the report, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue totaled N17.9 billion in the first three months of 2023, which is 20.1% of the N89.3 billion IGR target for the year.
It showed that out of the N150.4 billion budgeted receipts, the state had capital receipts of N5.4 billion, or 3.6%.
This is broken down as the final drawdown of N3.2 billion from the State Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability Programmes for Results initiative, which is financed by the World Bank.
It further stated that N2.2 billion was allocated for the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Programme.
Recurrent expenses made up N26.8 billion in total, or 19.8% of the N135.5 billion performance, in terms of expenditures.
The N14.9 billion in staff costs and the N11.8 billion in overhead costs made up the N26.8 billion in recurring expenses.
The report on capital expenditures revealed that N17.1 billion, which is 7.1% of the N240.9 billion budgeted for capital expenditures, was spent in the first quarter.
It demonstrated that a sizeable portion of capital expenditures in the first quarter went to the economic sector, particularly the Public Works and Infrastructure, road construction, and finance sub-sectors.
A public finance management specialist, Mr. Yusuf Goje, responded to the development by urging state residents to look beyond the reported numbers to find out how the money was spent.
He claimed that by doing this, the budget releases will be made available to the necessary ministries, departments, and agencies so they may carry out the planned programs that will result in the provision of high-quality services.
