Obaseki to present N140bn budget proposal Wednesday
The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obasek
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, w
ill on Wednesday present the 2018 budget estimate to the state House of Assembly for consideration and passage.
Obaseki made this known on Monday in a letter presented to the House seeking its approval.
The letter, containing the governor’s request, was dated November 17 and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Osarodion Ogie.
According to a statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, the budget, with an expectation to drive growth and progress in all sectors of the state, has a capital vote of N73.9bn while N66.2bn is proposed for recurrent expenditure.
These, Obaseki said, brought the budget size to N140,189,644,505.85.
According to him, the budget will boost industrial activities following the implementation of the 2017 budget, “which laid the foundation for economic revolution in the state.”
While reviewing the activities of the outgoing year, the governor said, “Despite the challenges posed by the economic recession, the state was able to meet its salary and pension obligations to civil servants, constructed several roads across the state and kick-started the development of the N200bn Benin Industrial Park, amongst other achievements.”
The 2018 proposed capital vote of N73.9bn is comparatively larger in size by about N12.04bn to that of 2017 put at N61.8bn.
Obaseki stated that key priority areas in the proposed 2018 capital expenditure framework included social and physical infrastructure for which N46bn had been earmarked.