Akeredolu presents N159bn fiscal estimates for 2021 to Ondo Assembly

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has presented N159 billion budget proposal for 2021 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

The budget, which is tagged ‘Budget of Hope’ is a little bit higher than 2020 budget, which was N187 billion before it was reviewed downward to N151 billion in September because of negative economic effects caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

Governor Akeredolu, who was represented by his Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Emmanuel Igbasan, said the recurrent expenditure was N103. 022 billion while the capital expenditure will gulp N56. 267 billion.

The governor said that the projected spending was made up of expectations of N34. 413 billion from Statutory Allocation, N11. 584 billion from Mineral Derivation, N12. 926 billion from Value Added Tax, N28. 581 billion from Internal Revenue, N12. 501 billion from Grants, N42. 072 billion from other capital receipts and N18. 719 billion.

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He said, “the breakdown of capital expenditure estimate on sectoral basis is; “Administration Sector is N6,727,054,724.80 billion which is 11.85 per cent, Economic Sector is N32,448,473,194.07 billion which is 57.15 per cent.

“Law and Justice Sector is N1,219,000,000.00 billion which is 2.15 per cent, Social Sector is N16,379,604,348.52 which is 28.85 per cent.”

According to him, the financial projection is predicated on some of the assumption contained in the 2021-2023 medium term expenditure framework document of Ondo State.

Governor Akeredolu explained that the major objective of the 2021 estimate was the consolidation of the modest gain of the last three and half years by the delivery of most the ongoing projects in the state.

The governor noted that the current economic reality was an indication that the government must consciously and pragmatically rearrange its fiscal priorities to target the growth drivers of its economy.

He said that the government had structured priorities in the most practical terms to generate the highest mileage from every naira spent, adding that the government could not reduce its recurrent commitment because of personnel related costs.

“We cannot reduce recurrent expenditure beyond certain level because of personal costs, taking cognisance of newly recruited medical personnel and the almost concluded primary school teachers recruitment in the state,” he said.

While commenting on the budget, the Speaker, Bamidele Oloyelogun, therefore, promised that the assembly would do justice to every content of the budget.