Delta Governor Okowa Signs 2021 Budget Of N383B Into law

The budget consists of N173billion in recurrent expenditure and N210billion in capital expenditure.

Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has assented to the state’s 2021 Appropriation Bill.

He also assured that the state government will strive to recover from the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Okowa, who signed the bill on Monday, November 30 in Asaba, commended the state’s House of Assembly for speedy passage and said that signing the budget a month before the end of 2020 will avail the state government the opportunity to plan and implement properly.

“You have just witnessed my signing into law the 2021 Appropriation Bill, and as I said on October 27 during the presentation of the bill, we are in very difficult times this year no doubt, both in this country and globally.

“And, with the second wave of the pandemic, it will create a further challenge for the recovery of the economy of our nation.

“However, we are optimistic that in the 2021 fiscal year, things will gradually improve and we will be able to get back to the levels of infrastructural development and the human capital development for our people.

“This is very necessary because there is a lot of pain; there is a lot of unemployment and our people are generally getting restive nationally and I pray that God will help us and this nation to rediscover ourselves and to commit every work of our people and our state and nation for the common good of all our citizens.

“The budget is termed ‘budget of economic recovery’ because we are very much aware of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, both on our health systems and the economy of the country, which is still largely dependent on the oil economy,’’ he said.

Presenting the Appropriation Bill to the governor, the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, said that the bill went through all legislative processes before passage.

Oborevwori said the bill was presented to the House on October 27, 2020 and was passed on November 17, 2020.

“It is with great pleasure that I present to you the 2021 Appropriation Bill passed by the House of Assembly for your assent.

“The urgency with which it was passed was informed by the legislative agenda of the House to partner with the executive to put the state on the path of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic which has ravaged the world.

“We were mindful of the fact that the quick passage of the bill was necessitated by Your Excellency’s vision to bring the state out of the economic challenges posed by the pandemic,” he said.

The budget figure was increased to N383 billion from the N378.48 billion proposed by the governor.

Recurrent expenditure of the Appropriation Act is N173 billion and capital expenditure is N210billion.