From Ameachi Prosper(Delta State’s The New Diplomat’s Correspondent)
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has presented an Appropriation Bill of N378.48 billion for 2021 to the state’s House of Assembly for consideration.
While presenting the budget christened, “Budget of Recovery’’, the governor said the bill was made up of N207.52 billion for Capital Expenditure and N171.32 billion for Recurrent Expenditure.
He said that capital expenditure constituted 54.76 per cent of the Budget while 45.24 per cent represented recurrent expenditure, and explained that the allocations were consistent with his administration’s agenda of spending more on projects and programmes that would impact directly on socio-economic wellbeing of Deltans.
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According to him, the 2021 budget is N96.2 billion or 34.05 per cent higher than the N282 billion revised approved budget of 2020.
The governor said that the 2021 budget proposal reinforced the state government’s commitment to road infrastructure, education, health and job and wealth creation programmes as the principal-drivers of the Stronger Delta agenda.
According to him, N113 billion, representing 89.94 per cent of the capital budget is allocated to the economic sector while N35 billion is allocated to the social sector; the administration sector got 10.93 billion and the regional sector, N42 billion.
“In 2021, we propose to spend N66.66 billion on Road Infrastructure; N6.79 billion on Health; Education will gulp N23.55 billion; Agriculture, N2.04 billion and Water Sector, N1.83 billion.”
He said that budget, which was derived from the state’s 2021-2023 FSP/MTEF, was anchored on crude oil production benchmark of 1.86 mbpd, oil price of 40 dollars per barrel, exchange rate of N379 per dollar, National Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of three per cent and 11.95 national inflation rate.
