By Ya’u Waziri
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has signed the 2026 Appropriation Bill into law, increasing the budget size from ₦535 billion, as earlier presented to the State House of Assembly, to ₦617 billion.
Speaking shortly after assenting to the bill, Governor Inuwa Yahaya said the upward adjustment made by the House of Assembly was in the overall interest of the people, noting that lawmakers are closer to their constituents and better positioned to understand their needs.
The Governor explained that the increase of about ₦82 billion would significantly impact the lives of the people across the state.
He added that budget implementation performance in the last five years has never fallen below 70 percent.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya further emphasized the cordial working relationship among the executive, legislative, and judicial arms of government since the beginning of his administration.
Earlier, the Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Muhammad Abubakar Luggerewo, explained that after the Governor presented the ₦535 billion Appropriation Bill, the House subjected it to thorough scrutiny and referred it to the House Committee on Appropriation for further legislative action.
According to the Speaker, the committee, chaired by Aliyu Baba Manu, held a series of stakeholder engagements involving heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
These engagements resulted in observations and recommendations that necessitated an upward review of the budget to ₦617 billion, representing a positive variance of ₦82 billion.
He noted that the adjustments cut across both recurrent and capital expenditures, with recurrent expenditure adjusted to ₦489 billion, while capital expenditure stood at ₦458 billion.
The Speaker assured that all adjustments were made in good faith and are aimed at improving the living standards of citizens across the state.
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