Amid claims of funds paucity, Jigawa earmarks N800m for construction, furnishing of presidential wing at Govt House
By Aminu Abubakar
A review of the approved budget document for Jigawa State in the 2025 fiscal year, by SolaceBase has shown that a sum of N500 million has been earmarked for the construction of a new Presidential lodge in the state government house.
This is even as another N300 million was budgeted to furnish the planned Presidential wing at the government house.
This development comes amid lamentations on the inadequacy of funds by Nigerian States.
Further review of the document shows that the state plans a sum of N1 billion for the procurement of four Hilux vehicles in 2025.
This is after the state spent N1.706 billion on the same purpose between January and September 2024.
Another sum of N200 million is budgeted for the purchase of one number rider bike for the government house, per details published in the budget document.
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The renovation of the government house in Dutse is expected to gulp N100 million, the renovation of G-9 government guest houses and other guest houses is planned to take N300 million, and the state government spent N161.5 million on this purpose between January and September 2024.
The sum of N300 million was approved for the furnishing of G-9 government guest house and other guest houses.
Aside from these expenditures, the House of Assembly also got substantial approval for the purchase of motor vehicles.
For instance, a hundred million naira (N100 million) was budgeted for the purchase of Toyota Prado for the state House of Assembly speaker, procurement of vehicles for Speaker and Deputy Speaker has an earmarked budget of N100 million.
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Another sum of N300 million was budgeted for vehicles for principal officers, that’s six number vehicles while eight numbers fairly used are planned to be purchased for N100 million.
These expenditures come amid a stated paucity of funds across states in Nigeria.
They also come amid developmental challenges facing the Nigerian States.
Jigawa State also suffers from issues such as tackling flooding. In August 2024, over thirty-three persons were reported to have lost their lives from flooding in Jigawa State.
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According to the National Bureau of Statistics multidimensional poverty index, over 2.4 million persons are stated to be poor in Jigawa State, and 43% of school-aged children in Jigawa are deprived of access to school attendance in the state.
73% of the households in the State lack access to sanitary facilities, over forty-one persons have been said to have suffered suspected cholera cases in Jigawa State, as of September 2024, seven persons were said to have been killed by Cholera.
According to the State of State reports by Kingmakers, the child mortality rate of Jigawa State stands at 144 to every 1000 live births, infant mortality rate stood at 81 per 1000 live births.
These paint a scenario of a challenge for the health sector of the state, a development that experts say needs financial buoyancy to further tackle.
There have been concerns over prudence and accountability in the management of funds by different states in the country.
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