The Jigawa State House of Assembly has approved the slashing of the state’s 2020 Budget from N152.92 billion to N242.357 billion due to COVID-19 lockdown.

This followed the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Budget and Appropriation on the revised 2020 budget at plenary in Dutse on Thursday.

Briefing the House,the Chairman of the committee, who is also the Speaker of the House, Alhaji Garba Idris, said that the reduction was made following a request by the state Governor in view of the present economic realities in the state.

Areas affected by the slash in the budget included road projects, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) intervention, loans/grants funded agricultural projects, health, economic empowerment and social welfare.

The adjustments were made under health, commerce, empowerment and social welfare sectors.

Also, a reduction of N16.58 billion was made from the 2020 budget of the 27 Local Government Councils in the state as their budget was reduced to N56.2 billion.

NAN