Governor Hope Uzodinma.
Tina Aliri – Owerri
Imo State Governor Senator Hope Uzodimma has signed a revised budget of N108.38 billion for year 2020. The revised budget was passed into law recently by the state House of Assembly.
The budget was reviewed down to N108,385,386,130. In the revised budget capital expenditure stands at N44,966,099,871, while recurrent expenditure is N63,419,736,259.
The recurrent expenditure revised downward to N63,419,736,259 from N91,509,058,587 has a provision of N8,980,000,000 earmarked for COVID- 19 interventions.
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In the capital expenditure revised down to N44,966,099,871 from the initial N106,283,584,680, a provision of N6,379,828,253 is made for the mitigation of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sectoral capital budget for economic Sector was revised down to N20, 555,468,871 from the initial N63,576,043,808 in which a provision of N2,186,094,528 was also made for Covid 19 interventions.
Sectoral capital budget for social services sector was revised down to N7,190,21,793 from the initial N21,139,598,734 in which provision of N3,043,134,650 was equally made for COVID-19 interventions.
The sectoral capital budget for for General Administration sector was revised down to N12,971,619,207 from the initial N17,421, 907,270 while the provision of N1,150,599,075 was also made for COVID-19 interventions from the General Administration sector.
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The only segment of the budget that reviewed slightly upwards was the provision for Government Transfers which was reviewed upwards to N4,248,800,000 from the initial N4,146,034,868
Speaking during the signing ceremony, the governor said the revised 2020 budget of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Recovery, heralds a fresh page, with great promise in the fiscal history of the state.
Uzodinma expressed confidence that his administration will succeed, noting that his administration has a team of dedicated people who are committed to deliver his promise to Imo people.
He noted the synergy between all the arms of government, particularly the executive and the legislature.
“I can never thank Mr Speaker and members of the House of Assembly enough for their ever ready spirit of sacrifice in ensuring that the 2020 revised budget is passed into law. Imo people are proud of your commitment to duty.
The governor said the reasons for the downward reversal of the budget to include; the downward oil prices and the revision of the national MTEF which is also as a result of the downward oil prices.
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He disclosed that Nigeria agreed with the World Bank to help it fund the shortfalls arising from the impact of the COVID-19 through a programme known as “State Fiscal Transparency Accountability for sustainability (SFTAS).
“This programme avails states certain grants, up to $20 million per state, if the meet specified conditions which includes, but not limited to; preparing a credible COVID-19 responsive budget but a revision downwards. Such budget or fiscal policy is logically expected to take into consideration, COVID-19 related emergency procurement in the health, education, agriculture, unemployed youths, vulnerable groups, among others, while postponing the non emergency procurements in capital expenditure”.
