El-Rufai: Kaduna is the only state in Nigeria to have started 2017 with an approved budget

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, says his state is the only one in the entire federation to have started the year 2017 with an approved budget.

Speaking at the second edition of the Kaduna Investment Forum (Kadinvest 2.0), el-Rufai said the state was ranked by African Finance Corporation (AFC) as the fastest growing state in Nigeria.

He said the state’s Ease of Doing Business committee led by the deputy governor has delivered some results.

“I am happy to say the Ease of Doing Business report was approved by the executive council and the results are beginning to show,” he said.

“African Finance Corporation recently ranked Kaduna as the fastest growing state in Nigeria, and we appreciate that.

“Our Kaduna Infrastructure master plan is Kaduna 2018 to 2050; the plan looks at the needs of Kaduna state including population projections till 2050. As you know that by the year 2050, Nigeria will have a population of 450 million million, and will be the third largest nation in the world in terms of population, after India and China.

“And about six percent of that population will be living in Kaduna state. This master plan takes in account all these factors. We hope to unveil it today.”

He said the headlines that Kaduna is unsafe are largely exaggerated.

“Our budget for 2017 was approved by the state house of assembly on the 22nd of December 2016. We are the only state that started the year with our budget and I thank the speaker and the members of the house of assembly for the hard work they are doing.”

The Nigerian senate says the country’s budget will be approved sometime in May, 2017 — nearly six months after that of Kaduna state.