By Modupe Gbadeyanka
On Thursday, December 29, 2016, Sokoto State Governor, Mr Aminu Tambuwal, presented a budget of N204.3 billion to the state House of Assembly.
Mr Tambuwal informed the lawmakers that the 2017 appropriation bill is focused on sustainable economic development through substantial investment in critical sectors.
To prove this, the education sector got the highest allocation of over N38.43 billion, representing 27.3 percent. This is the second year running the sector is getting the lion share of the budget.
Also, works and transport sectors got N16.2 billion, while water resources and environment gulped N10.7 billion.
In the same vein, health received N7.7 billion while the ministry of housing, lands and survey got N8.2 billion.
In addition, rural and community development got N5.6 billion, solid minerals and natural resources development received N1.7 billion, while the ministry of commerce, industries and tourism got N4 billion.
Business Post learnt that the state dedicated 69 percent of the budget to capital projects, while recurrent expenditure got 31 percent.
Speaking during the presentation of the bill, the Governor said, “We will prioritise effective resources management and seek intervention in areas with high potentialities to create job opportunities, generate income and improve revenue generation.”
He said further that, “We will work to strengthen capacity building of scheduled ministries to ensure they perform better in their tasks.
“Of great importance to us will be the promotion of partnership with the private sector in areas of strategic importance to our development objective.
“We will promote value chain through agro-processing and diversification by way of giving incentives to farmers and producers.
“We will also create backward and forward linkages between and among institutions, partners and other stakeholders to accelerate economic growth,” he said.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Dipo Olowookere