By Ngozi Onyeakusi — Following presentation of a budget proposal of N137.1 billion for 2020 to the State House of Assembly for approval, Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State has assured that budget
is focused on revamping Infrastructure and Youth Entrepreneurship.
Mr Obiano, who tagged the budget “Accelerating Infrastructural Development and Youth Entrepreneurship’’, said it would promote agriculture, social infrastructure development as well as enhance job creation.
He said N78.3 billion will be spent on capital expenditure, translating to 57 per cent of the budget, while N58.69 billion or 43 per cent is for recurrent expenditure.
He said the estimate was premised on crude oil price benchmark of 55 dollars per barrel.
Mr Obiano put expected revenue from Value Added Tax at N15.5 billion, while other capital receipts would be N30 billion.
The governor said N10 billion was projected to come from reimbursement from federal government for works done on federal roads out of the amount owed the state, while N17.8 billion would be raised from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
On personnel expenditure, Mr Obiano said N22.82 billion would be spent on salaries and wages, N9.34 billion on pensions and gratuities of retirees, while N22.315 billion would be for overheads.
He said N16 billion was provided for domestic debt financing, comprising single digit concessionary programme lending for interventions in agriculture, industrialisation, trade and commerce, and youth empowerment.
The budget breakdown showed that road works and infrastructure had the highest allocation of N22.2 billion followed by education, N8.3 billion.
Health and agriculture, N6.9 billion and N3.4 billion respectively, while Community Social Development projects got N2.6 billion.
Water Resources and Public Utilities got N3.175 billion, while Environment got N2.9 billion and Small and Medium Enterprises development N1.1 billion.
“For youth empowerment, we have allocated N250 million and for creative economy, N265 million will be provided to establish innovation hubs, N250 million for establishment of a film village, N1 billion for development of sports stadiums and N500 million for construction of International Conference Center in Awka.
“This budget seeks to accelerate infrastructure development in the state and it is my hope that it will be given swift consideration and passage to ensure the sustained and steady advancement of our dear state,’’ Mr Obiano said.
Receiving the budget, the Speaker, Uche Okafor, said the presentation was necessary to obtain legislative consent for the amount of money to be spent in the coming financial year