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| Gov. Umar Namadi |
By Muh'd Zangina Kura, Dutse
Though the proposed 2024 appropriation bill presented to Jigawa state house of assembly by Governor Malam Umar Namadi was not the first budget presented to the chamber but it is a maiden budget presentation by the the Governor who's vision is to make Jigawa State Great.
Jigawa state is now over 30 years old from it's creation in 1992, with sole aims of supporting rural development as declared by the former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Successive past state governors had executed various projects and programms in pursue for the actualization of the dreams of the state founding fathers and all the efforts are worth appreciated.
From the creation of the state to date hundreds of Basic and post basic schools were established, about 13 higher institution were established including three universities , between 2015-2022 over N313 billion was spent in the state education sector beside federal government and other partners intervention worth billion of Naira.
Despite all that, the state is presently among the state in the federation with low literacy level, high rate of out of school children and poor performance in WAEC and MECO among others.
According to survey conducted by Civil Society ELIP- Initiative in the state revealed that, learning achievement is very low, with 81.3% of Primary 2 pupils unable to identify any Hausa letter 96.7% of Primary 4 pupils unable to identify any English word. Only 2.7% of Primary 2 pupils can identify a number.
In another sector of critical public service, that is Health, the state had achieved the establishment of minimum of one basic healthcare facility in every political wards, with several clinics, about 15 general Hospital and tow tertiary hospital, despite all these investment, the state still battling with high rate of maternal and child mortality, high rate of child Malnutrition and stunting.
The poverty rate in the state is still higher despite vast arable land, water and other abundance mineral resources along with million of teaming able youth in the state that can combine translated in to wealth.
Rural urban migration is very rampant, and all other indices that, characterized object poverty is very glaring in the state.
The budget presented to the state house of assembly by Governor Umar Namadi has elements of understanding the major challenges sluggish the state development, a zeal and determination to confront and surmount the problems for a better society.
The sum of N298.14 billion was proposed as the state appropriation bill for the year 2024 almost 23 percent increase above 2023 state budget.
The budget was designed in line with the 12 point agenda stipulated by the governor Malam Namadi for the egalitarian development of the state and to make "Jigawa great".
The sum of N111.98 billion representing 37 % of the budget allocated for recurrent expenditure and N175.44 billion representing 59% for Capital expenditure.
The state education sector took a lion share of 95.5 billion representing 32% of the budget, with focus on teachers recruitment, improving foundation skill, reducing out of school children, which included the establishing of Tsangaya board for redesign and integrating Almajiri system in to formal system of learning.
The budget has clearly captured a specific budget line for teachers recruitment, over N2.2 billion was allocated for the recruitment of 6,000 teachers, this is a good step in addressing the over 30,000 teachers gap in the state public schools.
The sum of N36.2 billion representing 12% allocated to Health sector and Agriculture with allocation of N14.14 billion.
Works and Transport which included road construction allocated the sum of N41.14 billion, Rural electrification N2 billion, Water supply and sanitation N5.29 billion, Environment and Regional planing N9.5 billion.
IT development received it's first budget line amounting to N1.23 billion and N4.4 billion for youth and women empowerment.
The sum of N109 billion was presented as proposed budget for the 27 local government council of the state.
The current total number of Jigawa state public schools are: 2,562 primary Schools , 586 JSS school and 287 SS School , While the registered private School are 315 Primary Schools, 230, JSS 57 and SSS 28. According to this data, 0ver 95 percent of existing schools in Jigawa state are public.
Bridging Teachers gaps in Jigawa public schools and ensuring teachers quality is critical for repositioning the state education sector, improving literacy level and productivity .
The budget allocation for the health sector is very encouraging, it also has provision for manpower recruitment, the state has enough health facilities and there is hope the budget allocation will help in expanding access to quality basic healthcare for all as well as reducing the high rate of the maternal and child death in the state.
The allocation made for economic empowerment, IT development, Agricultural sector is a very good strategic plan which if properly implemented will pave way for jobs creation, poverty eradication growth and development.
Improving food production through the designed robust programm and budget allocation will equally help in addressing child Malnutrition and stunting rate in the state, while the road projects expected to facilitate movement of goods and services for the egalitarian development of the state.
The state that has already achieved an advance stage in provision of access to portable drinking water and sanitation, the maiden budget for Greater Jigawa is expected to sustained the gained and tackle the new demands and challenges coming up by population growth.
According to the budget speech, Governor Namadi stated that, "The proposed Appropriation Bill was a product of extensive consultations which perfectly aligned with my 12-Point Agenda and Speech Commitments in making “Greater Jigawa"
"As we opened the beginning of a new chapter in our governance history, , our governance reforms will introduce a two-fold performance measurement framework. On the one hand, we have developed a robust result framework translated into a performance bond to be signed by those entrusted with the delivery of identified responsibilities".
"While building on previous legacies of success stories, Our policy priority is to evolve a framework that would Support the implementation of development interventions across all sectors in an effective, innovative, and well-targeted manner so that outputs and outcomes could be optimized".
"This would include Leveraging on the power of ICT, development partnerships, sustainable models for resources mobilization, and participatory governance to promote and achieve our strategic vision for Greater Jigawa" Governor Namadi Declared.
It is important to remind Governor Malam Umar Namadi and his teem that, Jigawa citizens have hope on them, they took them by their words, they are expecting result, the 2024 budget performance is going to be a first yardstick for assessing the new journey, we hope you will note leave any stone unturned and get rid any obstacles for full implementation of the Maiden Budget For Greater Jigawa" Allah ya Taimaka.
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