The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, on Wednesday presented a 146billion 2018 Appropriation Bill and Budget Estimates to the Edo State House of Assembly.

Obaseki assured that the the budget christened ‘the Budget of Growth’ will consolidate on the infrastructural and socio-economic gains of the outgoing year 2017.

Obaseki commended the Speaker and members of the Edo State House of Assembly for their unprecedented support through their timely responses to requests for legislations and other forms of support to the executive arm of government.

According to the governor, “we have a budget size of N146, 659,830,444 billion, which is a 15% nominal increase over the 2017 budget. The 2018 budget is made up of N66,797,615,689 for Recurrent and N79,862,214,754 as Capital expenditure.”

He explained that the “revenue estimates for the budget are based on a $45 bench mark for crude oil and average daily production of 2.3 million barrels per day as well as an increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), as a result of reforms in revenue collection.”

Obaseki assured that the 2018 budget will build on the recovery witnessed in 2017, and stressed that “We intend to revitalise the state economy by increasing capital spending, hence, we envisage a capital/recurrent expenditure ratio of (54%:46%) which highlights our vision to grow, with cash receipts capped at N120,099,830,443.52 to be sourced from statutory allocation, IGR and grants.”

Analysing the budget estimates, the governor said “a larger part of the 2018 budget will be devoted to the development of physical and social infrastructure across the state to improve the standard of living of Edo people.

“Our government will consolidate on the gains we have made in wooing investors to the state. Alaghodaro Investment Summit was a huge success and I must thank you Mr Speaker and Honourable members for your support for the laudable initiative. We have been bombarded by enquiries from all over the world after the investment summit as investors have come to accept that Edo is indeed ready for business. This budget is expected to drive growth and progress in all sectors of the state,” said Obaseki.

The priority areas in the proposed 2018 capital expenditure framework, he explained, are social and physical infrastructure for which we have earmarked N51 billion.

“We will take advantage of the dry season to reconstruct several bad roads and construct new ones across the state to boost socio-economic activities. We have already commenced the procurement process for the roads through advertisements in major national newspapers,” he added.