Okowa presents 2017 budget proposal of N270 bn to state house of assembly

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Thursday presented a budget proposal of N270.910 billion for 2017 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly for consideration and passage.

BusinessDay reports that the budget tagged.”Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Steady Progress” was higher than the 2016 budget of N268.179 billion by N2.731 billion representing 1.02 percent.

The governor gave the breakdown of the budget to include N151.909 billion for recurrent expenditure representing 56.07 percent and N119.001 billion representing 42.35 percent for capital expenditure.

He said the budget would be financed from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N70.17billion representing  25.90 percent, N148.94 billion representing 54.98 percent from statutory allocation including mineral revenue derivation, Value Added Tax (VAT) of N10.52 billion representing 3.88 percent and other capital receipts of N41.29 billion representing 15.24 percent respectively.

Okowa also disclosed that  the sum of  N70.29 billion  representing 46.27 percent of the current expenditure  would be spent as personnel costs,  overhead costs will gulp N31.16 billion representing  20.51 percent while  a total of N50.46 billion  representing  33.21 percent was proposed as consolidated revenue fund charges.

The governor further gave a sectoral breakdown of the capital expenditure to include economic, N29.44 billion representing  24.74 percent, social, N20.39billion representing  17.13 percent , environmental, N24.39 billion representing  20.49 percent,  general administration, N15.78 billion representing 13.26 percent.

Others are Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), N28 billion representing 23.53 percent and contingency fund, N1 billion representing  0.84percent.

He however reiterated the commitment of his administration to grow and judiciously manage the economy “as we move from sole dependency on oil to a stronger, more diverse, and more resilient economy, with huge potentials for job and wealth creation.

“Despite the difficulties this administration has faced since inception, we have demonstrated our resolve to overcome our economic challenges.

“In our first year in office, we created more than 17,000 sector jobs; we engaged in massive road construction, we rehabilitated and reconstructed three technical colleges in the three senatorial districts; and we are the first state in the federation to launch the Universal Health Insurance Scheme.

“These and many more achievements have been properly documented in our First Year Performance Report. Given the uncertainty and volatility of the times, these are accomplishments we should all be proud of.” He stated.