Edo govt revises 2018 budget upward on Paris Club, other receipts, proposes N16.2bn supplementary spending

THE Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki has proposed an N16.2 billion Supplementary Budget for 2018 fiscal year, a 10.79 per cent increase to the N150.093bn budget for the year.

The Governor, who disclosed this after the Weekly State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting held at the Government House, in Benin City, said that the Supplementary Budget will be forwarded to the State House of Assembly for passage.

The Supplementary budget will be channelled to education, agriculture, among others, which is expected to build human capital and create wealth for the State and the people.

Noting that the revision is a demonstration of the state’s commitment to open governance and transparency, he said: “The revised/supplementary 2018 Budget shows a budget seize of N166.293bn from the initial size of N150.093bn. This represents a 10.79 per cent increase.”

According to him: “In the course of the 2018 fiscal year, Mr President approved the disbursement of the final tranche of refunds from Paris/London club of borrowers to States and Local Governments (Edo State’s share of this refund amounts to N5bn). Mr President further approved the application of a portion of this refund to clear the arrears of State Government’s cash contribution for Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Grants, resulting in an N3bn UBEC grant in favour of Edo State.

ALSO READ: How nollywood veteran actor, Ajimajasan died at 82

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the course of this fiscal year, approved the disbursement of concessional loans (under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, CAC), to qualifying states. Edo State met all qualifying criteria and thus received N5bn from the CBN under CACs. The foregoing developments were not anticipated at the time the 2018 budget proposal was approved by Executive Council in 2017.”

Noting that the State recorded impressive showing in the fiscal year in the area of budget performance, he said, “As of August 2018, the state government achieved over 80 per cent budget performance on capital expenditure; this achievement is record-breaking. In order to sustain this stellar performance, revisions to some current and capital expenditure envelop are being proposed. The revisions are in consonance with the actual expenditure run rates of affected Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).”

Obaseki added: “The proposed revised/supplementary budget has been prepared in line with section 36 of Edo State’s Public Financial Management and Fiscal Responsibility Law (2018).”