All you need to know about Ortom’s almost N133 billion 2021 budget.

Below is an excerpt of Governor Samuel Ortom’s 2021 Budget speech today at the Benue State House of Assembly:

“Mr. Speaker, Honourable members, you will recall that soon after taking office in 2015 we had to suffer through a recession, the first in over two decades. We have experienced the brutal devastation of invasion by murderous herdsmen that threatened our very existence in this country. Both in 2015 and 2019 we have had to fight long-drawn court battles over the mandate that our people freely and overwhelmingly gave to us. Now another recession is upon us that has the potential to bite deeper and longer than anything we have seen, while the rampaging COVID-19 is the biggest health crisis in over a century and has caused the greatest economic disruption since the end of Nigeria’s civil war. In fact, the pandemic has already reset the world such that no-one knows what the new normal is or will be. Our lives and our economy are in an existential fight for survival, and things will never be the same again.

While, humanly speaking, it would have been better if we did not have to contend with all these challenges, we cannot be dismayed or fearful about our prospects as a people and as a Government. God who knows all things brought us into office for such a time as this. Indeed, we have a lot to thank God for. We thank Him that our State has not seen the worst of the pandemic. We thank Him that He has enabled us to make so much progress in service delivery to our people over these last five years despite all the challenges.

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, permit me to highlight just a few of these areas of progress to remind us of how far we have come and to encourage us as we strive to prevail against these unprecedented challenges:

(a) We have already built or completed hundreds of kilometers of roads infrastructure and numerous rural electricity projects across the State.

(b) We have aggressively promoted agricultural mechanization through the acquisition and distribution of Tractors and are following up with investments in land clearing and development.

(c) We have revamped hundreds of schools and health facilities at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

(d) We have secured and preserved accreditation for our key health sector institutions.

(e) We have transformed technical education by increasing the number of Polytechnics.

(f) We are working hard to revamp moribund urban water projects along with projects in rural water supply as well as watershed and Environmental Management and Sanitation.

(g) We have also recorded considerable progress in restoring and revamping public structures across the State.

(h) We have passed and implemented new Laws and Programmes to improve security and public safety, including by reducing incidents of herdsmen attacks and curtailing violent crimes.

(i) We have created new institutions to strengthen public sector governance and the management of public finances by institutionalizing greater fiscal responsibility, open and competitive public procurement, better management of our debt and improved revenue administration.

(j) We have created a new Ministry to drive progress in the areas of Energy, Science and Technology.

(k) We have started an online State Television Station that we are now transforming into a Cable Broadcast Station.

(l) We have created the institutional framework for the effective and sustainable management of our Pension Administration.

(m) We have continued to take the required steps to protect the safety and security of our people.

Indeed, as we have started commissioning some of these projects, I notice that many of our people are pleasantly surprised by how much we have accomplished in the face of all the challenges.

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, this record of progress gives us the assurance that despite the challenges we remain on course to realise our vision for Benue State. That is the vision of an economically self-reliant and prosperous federating unit of Nigeria that is anchored on the fear of God.

This vision is not a pipe dream or a casual political slogan that we can abandon in the face of challenges or setbacks. We are committed to realizing the vision, knowing that God has endowed us with the human and natural resources that we can harness towards achieving it. Lest the current challenges tempt us to despair about our prospects, let us call to mind the assuring words of our State Anthem, that God will give us victory over all the giants on our way provided we are on the righteous side with Him. The faith and the resilience that have brought us this far will avail for us as we look ahead. That is the spirit that we have takeninto our preparation of the 2021 budget that we are presenting here today.”

* The 2021 Benue State appropriation bill is One Hundred and Thirty-Two Billion, Five Hundred and Ninety-Two Million, Forty-One Thousand, Three Hundred and Ten Naira (N132,592,041,310.00).