Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State on Wednesday in Minna assented to the N134.286 billion 2018 budget of the state tagged “Peoples Budget”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the State House of Assembly had on March 15 passed the budget into law.

The figure showed an increase of N6 billion from the N128.10 billion presented to the house by Mr. Bello on December 14, 2017.

Speaking at the ceremony, the governor said the passage of the budget would make government machineries fully operational towards uplifting the living standards of the people.

“We don’t have any excuse to fail as a government, as we have to put in more effort to ensure that we achieve full implementation of the 2018 budget,” Mr. Bello said.

He explained that the budget would focus more on rural development and execution of key projects in the state.

He commended the legislature for its support towards the implementation of government’s programmes as well as for the cordial relationship existing between the executive and legislatures in the state.

Earlier, Ahmed Marafa, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, lauded the state government for adequate provision for various sectors of the economy in the budget.

Mr. Marafa gave assurance that the legislative arm of government would continue to support the government.

(NAN)