Gov Ihedioha Presents 2020 Budget For Imo

OGBONNA IWUAGWU

 The Imo State Governor, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has presented a total budget proposal of N197,607,272,328 (one hundred and ninety seven billion, six hundred and seven million, two hundred and seventy two thousand, three hundred and twenty eight naira) for the year 2020 to the Imo State House of Assembly.

Dubbed “Rebuild Imo Budget One”, the budget which encapsulates government’s political, economic and social development and strategies according to the Governor aims at giving the citizenry a sense of belonging, restoring confidence in government, rebuilding dilapidated infrastructure and putting the state on a pedestal for sustainable economic development.

A breakdown of the budget shows that while the recurrent revenue stood at N140,330,473, 912 as against N97,690,048,847 for the year 2019, N91,377,822,128 is for recurrent expenditure items as opposed to N62,176, 372, 227 for the year  2019.

The 2020 capital receipts in comparism with that of 2019 approved budget, stood at N57,276,798,416 and N179,128,022,965 respectively.

Shedding more light on the budget proposal, Chief Ihedioha said that the proposed 2020 capital expenditure of N106, 229, 450, 200 is 53.8% of the budget in contrast to the previous capital expenditures that were often below 40%.

Very much unlike the 2019 budget that has N15,304,901,626 as personnel cost for ministries, the governor disclosed that the proposed 2020 budget has N8,949,496,411 as its personnel cost which represented a 41.5% reduction in personnel cost.

He explained that the overhead cost in the proposed 2020 budget would relatively increase to N34,702,219, 005 from the N17,112,658,110 that was approved in the 2019 budget.

This, he said is also as a result of increase in government activities, restoration of full workers salaries, allowances and the observance of the principle of separation of power between the three arms of government.