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Delta State Governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa today presented a N298 billion 2018 budget proposal stating that the budget would rely mostly on Statutory Allocation from the Federal Government.
Gov. Okowa stated that the proposed 2018 Budget is formulated within the context of the successes and challenges of the past two years.
A review of the performance of 2017 budget between January and September by the Governor indicates that revenue was drawn from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) amounting to N70,165,959,503 and Statutory Allocation Including Mineral Revenue Derivation amounting to N148,939,012,121.
Other sources of revenue that powered the State 2017 budget included Value Added Tax (VAT) which amounted to N10,515,786,230 and other capital receipts that amounted to N64,836,282,623.
This showed that while IGR contributed 23.83% to the budget of 2017, Statutory Allocation Including Mineral Revenue Derivation contributed more than half of revenue, 50.58%. VAT and other capital receipts contributed 3.57% and 22.02% respectively.
The sources of fund for the 2018 budget are reflective of how the State sourced for fund for the 2017 budget.
The main sources of funds for the 2018 budget as proposed are IGR of N71,360,419,715 making 23.94% of the the budget proposal and Statutory Allocation Including Mineral Revenue Derivation of N178,056,627,329 making 59.73% of the budget proposal.
While VAT will contribute a paltry N10,767,532,297 (3.61%), other Capital Receipts will contribute N37,893,899,556 (12.72%) to the 2018 budget.
The analysis shows that the State government is increasingly relying on statutory allocation from the federal government to fund its budget.
Meanwhile, the State government also spreadsheet how the N298 billion it hopes to generate would be spent.
Gov. Okowa said while the sum of N1.2 billion would be spent on Job Creation, N49.3 billion is earmarked for Road Infrastructure, N1.66 billion is provided in the budget in the 2018 fiscal year for the Ministry of Agriculture.
The State governor said in the 2018 fiscal year, the sum N18.7 billion is allocated to the education sub-sector and the sum of N6.6 billion has been earmarked for the health sub-sector.
The special sum of N1.2 billion is provided for the State’s Contributory Health Scheme for the 2018 fiscal year.
While Environment and Urban Renewal gets N2.2 billion, Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency gets N3 billion.
The sum of N1.5 billion has been earmarked for a Secretariat Annex Complex, while N150 million is provided for the Office of the Head of Service in the proposed capital budget of the 2018 fiscal year, and Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) gets funding of N28 billion.
Gov. Okowa hope that as peace gradually returns to the Niger Delta and oil export from Forcados trunk has commenced, the FG will put measures in place to enforce its directive to oil companies to locate their head offices in their areas of operation.
“If implemented, this will not only enhance our internal revenue generating capacity, it will also create employment opportunities, engender trade and commerce and give the needed fillip to the State’s economy,” he said.
Tagged Budget of Hope and Consolidation, Okowa is confident that in the unlikely event of any internal or external shocks, Deltans will be fine as long as the State continues in the tradition of fiscal discipline, prudence and accountability.