Governor Hyacinth Alia has presented a total of N550.1 billion as 2025 budget estimates tagged, “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” to the Benue State House of Assembly.
Alia while presenting the fiscal documents told the lawmakers that out of the total budget estimate, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure and N374.7 billion is for capital expenditure.
The Governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.5 percent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.
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Governor Alia who explained that the appropriation bill is conceptualized to consolidate the gains made in 2024 said the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.
According to him, the budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 percent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 percent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 percent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 percent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 percent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” the Benue State Governor said.
Alia noted that the government intended to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 percent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 percent which is within the benchmark of the 25 percent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
