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Edo State House of Assembly on Monday passed a resolution approving the downward review of the state’s 2017 appropriation bill by N30.266 billion.
The House’s resolution was sequel to the state governor, Godwin Obaseki’s letter dated October 16, 2017 to the House requesting for the downward review of the appropriation.
In line with the governor’s request, the House reduced the budget to N127.92 billion from the approved budget of N153.18 billion initially passed and signed into law in February, this year.
Recall that the state government had in October 13, 2017 after the emergency Executive Council (EXCO) meeting held at Government House said it approved the downward review of the 2017 budget from N153.187billion to N127.921 billion, representing 16.49 percent reduction.
A statement from the commissioner for communication and orientation, Paul Ohonbamu, noted that the downward review was occasioned by the sub-optimal performance of the nation’s macro-economic environment.
Ohonbamu said the memo to reduce the budget was presented by the commissioner for budget and planning, saying after careful examination and deliberation, the EXCO approved a revision of the 2017 budget from the initial budget sum of N153.187 billion to N127.921 billion.
“The creation of new ministries as well as the present harsh economic realities in the country necessitated the reduction,” he said.
In reviewing downward the appropriation bill, the state government slashed the recurrent expenditure from N76.5 billion to N66.9 billion while the capital expenditure was also reduced from N76.6 billion to N61.8 billion
Moving the motion for the Consideration of the bill, the majority leader, Roland Asoro, said the reduction in the budget was to allow the state government meet the prevailing economic realities, explaining that the reduction was due to the dwindling allocations from the federation account, arising from the fall in oil prices at the International market.
The motion was seconded by the deputy speaker, Victor Edoror, and was unanimously adopted by the House.
The speaker, Kabiru Adjoto, said the 2017 Appropriation Act had to be reviewed downward because of the dwindling federal allocation, saying, ”We are reviewing the budget downward to reflect the reality of the nation’s economy.” he said.
