Wike Proposes Budget of N530.8bn for 2020

Ernest Chinwo

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has presented a budget proposal of N530,813,357,619.00 for the 2020 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly for consideration and passage.

He christened the 2020 Budget of Rivers State: “Budget of Reassurance, Profound Impact for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity.”

The proposed budget is N50.8 billion higher than the N480 billion budgeted for 2019.

Presenting the 2020 Budget Proposal to the Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday, Wike said the budget was made up of N156,659,436569.00 recurrent expenditure and N374,153,920,743.00 capital expenditure.

“The capital expenditure for 2020 is estimated to be

N374,153,920,743.00, which constitutes nearly 70 per cent of the total budget. The summary of sectorial allocations of the capital expenditure are as follows: Administrative sector - N15,061,008,000.00; Economic sector - N136,444,523,766.60; Law and Justice - N2,400,000,000.00; Social sector - N138,558,553,322.35; Special Head - N57,367,124,462.05 and Loan repayments - N24,322,731,192.00.

“The substantial increase in capital over recurrent expenditure once again reflects and underscores our commitment to direct more resources to the growth and productive sectors of our economy.

“This administration is poised to fulfill every promise it made to our people. Consequently, various expenditure portfolios have been allocated to all the relevant MDAs to fund capital expenditures and deliver physical and socioeconomic infrastructure and development for our people,” he said.

The highpoint of the recurrent expenditure was the allocation of funds for the new minimum wage and the recruitment of new employees.

“The sum of N70,227,748,472.32 is earmarked for salaries and wages; N8,000,000,000.00 for the new minimum wage, while N18,429,375,634.45 is for overheads.

“Also, N5,000,000,000.00 is set aside for new recruitments, N3,000,000,000.00 as counterpart fund for pensions, N900,000,000.00 for death benefits and N33,176,728,931.33 as monthly pensions and gratuities. Government has also provided over N400,000,000.00 as counterpart contributions for donor programmes,” he said.