Ortom presents N132.5bn budget to Benue Assembly for consideration, passage

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state has presented to the Benue State House of Assembly the 2021 Appropriation Bill of N132.5billion for consideration and passage.

The figure represents an increase of N23.7billion or 18 per cent of the revised the year 2020 fiscal estimates which was N108.8billion.

Presenting the budget Thursday on the floor of House, Governor Ortom explained that of the total estimate, recurrent expenditure stood at N90.8billion, representing 68 percent of the total budget, while the capital expenditure took N41.7billion representing 31 percent of the total estimate.

He said in preparing the 2021 budget “we have focused on programmes and projects that will further strengthen the resilience and recovery of our people in the face of the manifold challenges.

“We need to recover as quickly as possible from the disruptive impact of the economic downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic in order to keep our state on the path to becoming an economically self-reliant federating unit of Nigeria.

“For that, we need to focus on measures that will enhance our economic recovery and growth. We must support our hardworking farmers and micro, small and medium enterprises to recover and rebuild their operations.

“We have to find innovative ways to support struggling households and individuals to survive and to thrive. We need to create opportunities for jobs and wealth creation for our teeming population of young men and women and to ensure that they have the education and skills to seize these opportunities.

“The above are the main considerations underpinning our approach to the 2021 Budget proposals. We have undertaken to be faithful to these considerations even as we remain true to the core public financial management principles of a realistic, responsive and transparent budget preparation and implementation process,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Governor had earlier presented the year 2020 supplementary budget of N20billion to the Assembly for passage to enable selected Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of government meet their responsibilities and obligations.

Receiving the estimates on behalf of members, the Speaker, Mr. Titus Uba assured that the House would ensure speedy consideration and passage of the estimates.