The Kano State House of Assembly will on Thursday conduct a public hearing to enable stakeholders and other citizens to make inputs for the approval of the 2018 proposed budget in the state.
The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Abdullahi Ata, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen by the Director of Press of the assembly, Alhaji Ali Bala-Kofar Kudu, on Wednesday in Kano.
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje recently presented a budget estimate of over N233 billion to the legislature for approval for government services in 2018.
According to the statement, the public hearing is aimed at allowing stakeholders and members of the public to make contributions to the proposed legislation before passage by the assembly.
It announced the suspension of regular plenary sessions shortly after the presentation of the budget on Nov. 30 to Jan. 15, next year.
The suspension of the plenary session was to allow all committees conduct adequate oversight and convene budget defence sessions for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to defend allocations proposed for them in the budget.
The statement also explained that the public hearing would push the budget defence a step further by allowing members of the public to weigh-in constructively on ways to improve the appropriation bill.
“This will be the third time such public hearing would be conducted.
“And it shows the testament to the leadership, foresight and the commitment of the 8th legislature to ensure that the budget is passed transparently with adequate feedback from the general public,’’ it said.
It appealed to all the stakeholders, including Civil Society Organisations, youth organisations and the general public who were interested to contribute, to attend the public hearing that would commence at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
