Last Friday, precisely on November 29, 2024, Dr. Ahmed Aliyu, the executive governor of Sokoto state, presented the 2025 appropriation bill to the House of Assembly. By doing so, he discharged the responsibility of his office to lay the budget before the state’s parliament. Expectedly, this action will be followed by parliamentary scrutiny and passage into law to enable the administration to kickstart its developmental activities for the 2025 fiscal year. According to Governor Aliyu, the Sokoto state budget size is as huge as N526,882,142,484.39 (five hundred and twenty-six billion, eight hundred and eighty-two million, one hundred and forty-two thousand, four hundred and eighty-four naira, thirty-nine kobo).
Specifically, the governor plans to inject a total of N 176,295,602,130.14 (one hundred and seventy-six billion, two hundred and ninety-five million, six hundred and two thousand, one hundred and thirty naira, fourteen kobo) into recurrent demands of the state during the year and another N349,386,540,354.25 (three hundred and fourty-nine billion, three hundred and eighty-six million, five hundred and fourty thousand, three hundred and fifty-four naira, twenty-five kobo) on capital spending. This is why he aptly titled the appropriation bill “Transformation and infrastructural sustainability budget”. With 66 per cent of the budget going into capital expenditure, Gov. Aliyu just signalled his willingness to turn Sokoto into a project site as more money would be available to fund capital projects.
Besides, sectoral allocation of the budget indicates that education got the highest chunk with 20 per cent allocation followed by health. Education and health are twin major indicators that measure the developmental trajectory of serious societies. This is without forgetting that the state had also signed on to the implementation of the new minimum wage policy of N70,000 beginning January 2025. It is, therefore, reassuring that Gov. Aliyu is paying the desired attention to these sectors while seeking to uplift the quality of life of the people of the state and delivering on his mandate to the satisfaction of the electorate.
However, though N526.8 billion looks huge, it is not exactly bolstering when placed against developmental challenges facing the state, the most tasking of which is insecurity occasioned by banditry and the activities of terrorists infiltrating the state from neighbouring counties. Gov. Aliyu restated this when he told the State Assembly: “The security challenges being experienced in some local government areas in the State remain our headache despite the tremendous achievements recorded in many of them.” Despite this, Gov. Aliyu expressed his unstoppable determination to “bring about an accelerated economic growth and development within the shortest possible time, my administration remained focused on the pursuit of required synergy and effective collaborations with all the security outfits, traditional rulers, religious leaders and other key stakeholders in the state to nip in the bud all the security challenges bedevilling our rapid development as a State.”
Gov. Aliyu is unrelenting. He has been proactive in working with the federal government to attack the challenge. To this effect, he had supported the military in several ways including the provision of vital operational tools and logistics to enable the security outfits to expand their operations in securing the lives and property of the people. He also supported the Nigeria Air Force with the logistics required for the operationalisation of the Air Force unit in the state. This is without prejudice to the complementary effort of the state’s unconventional security apparatus called the Community Guard Corps, which he established and equipped to work in rural communities as vital links in security monitoring and reporting.
The Sokoto governor had also asphalted over several township roads with 40 others undergoing upgrade and construction. These will be ready for commissioning very soon as the governor promised. He had also constructed over 1000 Houses in Gidan Salanke and Wajake, as well as purchased 137 housing units built by the federal government in Kwannawa area of the state while also steadily clearing off the about N15 billion in gratuity debt accumulated by his predecessor through the provision of N500m monthly towards liquidating the vexatious debt. This is aside from the N300m he sets aside monthly for compensatory packages to civil servants who will retire under his administration. Gov. Aliyu is not interested in denying any civil servant in the state the reward of their labour and service to Sokoto state.
The governor had also unzipped a welfare package that has helped sustain the peace of the state and enhanced the pursuit of his 9-Point Agenda. This has helped the people to see the difference he makes in leadership. He is calm, cool-headed and not boisterous. He has proven himself to understand the nuances of leadership. This has endeared him to the people. His focus on transforming the public water supply system in the state and ensuring that both urban and rural communities in Sokoto have pipe-borne water, under his watch, excites the people. Many are convinced that he will deliver on the promise.
It is interesting to note that Governor Aliyu has diligently reworked the finances of the state and executed several development projects across the state without taking loans from any financial institution. This is because of his transparent and prudent management of the resources of the state. It is for this reason that the majority of the people of Sokoto argue, and express confidence, that Gov. Aliyu will deliver every project that he has shown interest in developing.
However, Gov. Aliyu and the Sokoto people need the support they can get to rout banditry and terrorism threatening to derail the governor’s transformative vision. There have been calls for more booths on the ground, from the federal government, to ensure that the infiltration by the Lukarawas terror group, and bandits, in some parts of the state become history. This will enable the people to return to their farms as well as enhance the development and achievement of the federal government’s livestock development vision.
It is therefore hoped that with a more secure environment occasioned by the decimation of the bandits and Lukarawas, Gov. Aliyu would be better disposed to transformationally change the story of Sokoto state with a focused implementation of the 2025 budget and injection of about N349.4 billion into capital projects development for good of the state.
Source : The Sun