Obaseki signs N179bn 2020 budget into law

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has signed the state’s 2020 Appropriation Bill pegged at N179,212,812,050.72 into law, after due passage by the Edo State House of Assembly.

Speaking during the signing of the budget in Government House, Benin City, the Edo State capital, Obaseki said this will be the first time the state government will be signing the budget into law before December 15, in the last 15 years. The budget size previously set at N177 billion was raised to N179 billion by the Assembly before passage. The total recurrent expenditure in the 2020 Appropriation Act is fixed at N86.5bn, while the capital expenditure stands at N92bn.

The governor said the government will continue to prioritise the people’s welfare, ensuring that the state’s resources are deployed to areas that make the most impact in the people’s life such as healthcare, education, job creation and industrialisation. According to him, “We have just set a record by signing the budget today. This is the first time in the last 15 years that we will be signing the budget before December 15. I want to specially thank the Edo State House of Assembly for their speedy and meticulous consideration of items on the budget.” He continued, “We have gone through all the assumptions and have moderated our expectation. It is quite less than what we appropriated in 2019. We cannot deceive our people; we have reviewed our macro-economic situation and determined that what should be appropriated for 2020 should be as close as possible to what we will generate.”

Earlier, presenting the bill to the governor, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Francis Okiye said the budget presented to the house was slightly increased by 0.09 percent, which is about N1.6 billion. “The house looked at the Governor’s programme for 2020 and decided to increase the appropriation. We believe that putting this budget to work, Edo will have a new look and the people will sing a new song under the Obaseki-led administration.”