The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, will on Wednesday, present the budget proposal for 2018 fiscal year to the Edo State House of Assembly for consideration.
The budget expected drive growth and progress in all sectors of the state, has N73,925, 548, 087.59 for capital vote while N66,264,096,418.26 is proposed for recurrent expenditure. This brings the budget size to N140, 189,644,505.85.
According to Obaseki, the budget will boost industrial activities following the implementation of the 2017 budget, which laid the foundation for economic revolution in the state.
Reviewing the activities of the outgoing year, the governor said that, “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 N200billion Benin Industrial Park amongst other achievements.”
Comparatively, the 2018 proposed capital vote of N73,925, 548, 087.59 is larger in size by about 12.04billion naira than the 2017 figures of 61,881,175,800.
The governor explained that key priority areas in the proposed 2018 capital expenditure framework include social and physical infrastructure for which N46billion has been earmarked.
To boost employment generation across the state, he explained that N12,871,000,000 will be spent on economic growth and employment enablers.
He assured that through frugal allocation of the state’s resources, thousands of jobs will be created in the first phase of the Benin Industrial Park that will come on stream in 2018.
He expressed his excitement about the readiness of development partners like the World Bank and other multilateral agencies as well as the private sector to key into the institutional reform programmes and the industrialisation drive of the state.
On the revenue side, he said the various organs of government concerned with generating revenue have been repositioned to perform optimally.
Other key sectors of the state such as education, health, youth and women empowerment, social development and judiciary reform will receive their share of the budget.
Meanwhile, State Government has assured residents of Benin City, the State Capital of its resolve to complete the construction of designated bus terminals.
The assurance was given by the Commissioner of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Hon. Edorodion Erimona, during a media chat at the Government House in Benin City.
According to the Commissioner, “the construction of the bus terminals is work in progress even as the government will make good its promise to ensure that the construction is completed in due course. This will sustain the ongoing plans to decongest parts of the state capital with heavy vehicular and human traffic.”
Erimona added that “the goal of the state government in constructing the terminals is to provide permanent solution to the congestion of the state capital. It will also aid state capital residents commute easily around the city.”
“The state government through the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development is working out the strategy on the construction of the bus terminals. The strategy being worked out on the construction of the bus terminals would ensure that the facility serves as a central hub for commuters. It will also ensure proper traffic management,” he added.
The commissioner reiterated the commitment of the state government in carrying out more projects in urban centres across the state, adding that Godwin Obaseki-led administration intends to use infrastructural projects to drive economic rejuvenation.
