Hamstrung by huge deficit, Zamfara State is downsizing its 2021 budget from N142.7 billion to N126.8 billion, a reduction of about N16 billion.

Speaker of the House of Assembly, Alhaji Nasiru Mu’azu-Magarya, said at plenary session on Thursday in Gusau that the decision to downsize the budget was at the instance of the Executive arm of government.

He said the downsizing was also necessitated by security challenges and dwindling fortunes of the state.

Director-General, Press Affairs and Public Relations of the house, Malam Mustafa Jafaru-Kaura, said in a statement that the House has consequently begun the process of downsizing the budget.

He stated that the initiative of Governor Bello Matawalle was conveyed to the House in a letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Kabiru Balarabe.

The Majority Leader, Alhaji Faruku Dosara, urged the lawmakers to give the Executive request an accelerated hearing and subsequent passage of a Bill on the request into law going by the exigency of the development.

Dosara stressed that since the House passed the 2021 budget earlier this year, it was not out of place for it to conduct a downward review.

The Bill for the downsizing of the budget got accelerated first and second reading in the House on Thursday.

The Speaker, Nasiru Magarya, directed the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation to scrutinise the Bill and revert to the House in the next one week.