Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration spent N43.8 billion of the N89.1 billion generated in the first quarter of 2023.

The figure was revealed in the Kaduna first quarter budget performance report. The office of the account general produced the report with the support of the Planning and Budget Commission on Tuesday.

It showed that the N89.1 billion generated and the N43.8 billion expended represented 23.7 per cent and 11.7 per cent of the N376.5 billion total budget for the year.

The report further showed that the state received N41.1 billion as recurrent revenue during the year’s first quarter, representing 22.4 per cent of the N183.4 billion budgeted revenue.

It added that N23.1 billion was received as the state government’s share of statutory revenue, which included VAT, electronic money transfer levy, FOREX equalisation, and share of augmentation.

The report noted that the state collected N17.9 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) within the first three months of 2023, representing 20.1 per cent of the N89.3 billion IGR target for the year.

It also showed that the state had capital receipts of N5.4 billion, representing 3.6 per cent of the N150.4 billion budgeted receipts.

This is broken down as N3.2 billion being the last drawdown of the World Bank-supported State Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability Programmes for Results (SFTAS) programme.

It also indicated that N2.2 billion was under the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Programme.

The total recurrent expenditure amounted to N26.8 billion, representing 19.8 per cent of the N135.5 billion performance.

The N26.8 billion recurrent expenditure comprised N14.9 billion personnel cost and N11.8 billion overhead cost.

It explained that overhead cost was low because it was paid only once during the quarter under review due to the outgoing government’s priority on capital expenditure to complete ongoing projects before May 29.

On capital expenditures, the report showed that N17.1 billion was spent in the first quarter, representing 7.1 per cent of the N240.9 billion budgeted for capital expenditure.

It showed that the economic sector received significant capital spending in the first quarter, particularly public works and infrastructure, road construction and finance sub-sectors.

This is based on the outgoing administration striving to complete various legacy projects under the Urban Renewal programme it started in 2019.

Reacting to the development, Yusuf Goje, a public finance management analyst, urged Kaduna residents on the need to go beyond the reported figures to track how the money was spent.

According to him, this will ensure that the budget releases are available for the relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to implement planned programmes that will translate into quality delivery of services. 

(NAN)