… growth, employment enablers, road infrastructure, health, education, others top priorities

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Tuesday, presented a N325.3bn budget to the Edo State House of Assembly, for the 2024 fiscal year.

Obaseki, while presenting the budget to the Assembly, said the budget is made up of N178 billion for Capital and N146 billion for Recurrent expenditure.

INFO DAILY reports that the 2024 budget is a slight increase from the N320bn budgeted for the year 2023.

Obaseki said with the budget christened, ‘Budget Home Run: Finishing Strong,’ his government intends to, despite the global economic headwinds and attendant implications for the national economy, marshal resources to complete ongoing projects across the state in furtherance of government’s commitment to the wellbeing and prosperity of Edo state and sustain efforts to improve the ease of doing business, consolidate on key reform programmes and conclude all transactions needed to stimulate economic growth.

The governor noted that the total projected revenue for 2024 is N303 billion, consisting of N55billion statutory allocation, Value Added Tax (VAT) of N38billion; capital receipts of 40bn; IGR of N72 billion and N10 billion from grants, among others.

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He added that “the revenue estimates are based on a $65 per barrel benchmark for crude oil with an average daily production of 1.60m barrels per day as well as an increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N72bn, which will be bolstered by reforms in revenue collection, property laws and land management reforms.”

Obaseki said the focus areas for the 2024 fiscal year include growth and employment enablers such as the trailer and transit parks, ICT infrastructure, Benin Port projects, which will gulp N85bn; road and transport infrastructure, N62bn; health, N33bn; education, N32bn and buildings, physical planning and development control, N21bn.

Other areas include Social Welfare/Benefits N16bn; Environment, N5bn; Electricity, N7bn; Agriculture, N6bn and Youth, Social Development and Gender, N6bn.

According to him, the 2024 budget is informed by the need to build a resilient and sustainable foundation for the reforms, initiatives and programmes that were embarked on in the last seven years.

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“The ultimate target is to promote economic expansion, technology, arts and culture, social inclusion and economic empowerment for Edo citizens, through sustained investments across various sectors of the economy necessary to drive growth and development. Public Private Partnership (PPP) will continue to dominate our investment initiatives in the New Year,” the governor added.

He stated, “Though resources are not at the optimum and our revenues are severely impacted by prevailing lag in the economy, we will sustain efforts to improve the ease of doing business, consolidate on other key reform programmes and conclude all transactions needed to stimulate economic growth.”

The governor further stated: “Mr. Speaker, as a subnational we have very little say on monetary policy but our aim is to stabilize our macro-economic environment through effective use of limited fiscal policy. This will enable businesses, investors and households plan and implement production, investment and consumption activities effectively within our state.

“The State’s fiscal policy is envisaged to control and enforce compliance with established spending limits to achieve a sound budgeting system, which includes aggregate fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency and effective spending that can propel Edo State’s economy to be among the top three most developed states in the country by 2050.”

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According to him, “The year 2023 has been characterized by political and economic uncertainties, especially with the devaluation of the naira by almost 100 percent and the removal of fuel subsidy which led to a threefold increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).”

Receiving the 2024 budget proposal, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Blessing Agbebaku assured the Governor that the legislative arm will continue to work harmoniously with the executive to ensure the socioeconomic growth and development of the State.

Hailing the governor for his developmental strides across all sectors of the State, the Speaker commended the governor for extending the free bus service across the State by three months.