17th December, 2014
Jethro Ibileke/Asaba
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta state has presented a budget estimate of N327.68 billion for the 2015 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
The budget estimate which falls short of the 2014 fiscal budget by N123.05 billion, comprises of N161.6 billion recurrent and N166.07 billion capital estimates, representing 49.32 and 50.68 per cent respectively.
Uduaghan while presenting the budget in the hallowed chamber of the State Assembly on Wednesday, explained that the decrease in the current budget and the 2015 proposal was due to the fall in the price of crude oil at the international market.
“I wish to announce a budget proposal of N327,682,982,917(three hundred and twenty seven billion, six hundred and eighty two million, nine hundred and eighty-two thousand, nine hundred and seventeen naira) for the services of Delta State in the 2015 fiscal year.
“This amount comprises N161,606,428,928 (one hundred and sixty-one billion, six hundred and six million, four hundred and twenty-eight thousand, nine hundred and twenty-eight naira) or 49.32 percent for Recurrent Expenditure and N166,076,553,989 (one hundred and sixty billion, seventy six million, five hundred and fifty-three thousand, nine hundred and eighty-nine naira) or 50.68 per cent for capital expenditure,” he said.
The economic sector got a lion share of N50.32 billion, representing 30.3 per cent of the capital estimate, followed by the social, general administration and environmental sectors while the sum of N34 billion was voted for the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
A further breakdown of the budget estimate shows that N68.53 billion of the recurrent estimates was allocated to personnel costs, N51.33 billion for overhead costs with N41.69 billion set aside for consolidated revenue charges.
According to Uduaghan, the budget is expected to be funded through statutory allocation, including mineral revenue derivation, (63.74 per cent), internally generated revenue, (18.6 per cent), Value Added Tax (VAT), and other capital receipts (13.58 and 3.81 percent respectively)
“The 2015 budget is driven by the successes recorded in various sectors of the State’s economy in the past seven years up to the 2014 Budget of Consolidation, Sustainable Economic Growth and Development as the 2015 budget is aimed at consolidating the achievement of 2014 budget as well as completing all on-going projects and programmes that will facilitate the fulfillment of the administration’s goal of making Delta State one of the most industrialized and developed States in Nigeria by 2020.
“Priority is given to the completion of on-going projects in the areas of rural and urban road network and infrastructure, security of life and property (including logistics support for law enforcement), healthcare and education.”
The Deputy Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Basil Ganagana assured Governor Uduaghan on behalf of the Legislature that the budget proposal would be given speedy attention to ensure service delivery to Deltans.