Reps Deputy Minorty Leader Urges PMB To Sign Road Infrastructure Bills

The Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki yesterday presented a N320.35bn budget to the Edo State House of Assembly for the 2023 fiscal year, representing a 44.3 percent increase from the N222bn budgeted for the year 2022.

Obaseki, who presented the budget to the Assembly sitting at the Anthony Enahoro Assembly Complex in Benin City, said the budget comprises N192 billion for capital, and N127.5 billion for recurrent expenditure.

According to the governor, the document, christened ‘Budget of Resilience and Transformation,’ is informed by the need to “build a resilient and sustainable foundation for the reforms, initiatives and programmes that we have embarked on in the last six years.”

“Our strategic goal is to utilize manufacturing, technology, agriculture, arts, culture and entertainment as the catalyst to promote sustained investment across all sectors of the Edo economy,” he added.

Obaseki noted that the total projected revenue for 2023 is N300 billion, consisting of N144.26 billion statutory allocation, made up of Value Added Tax (VAT) of N41.2 billion; Capital receipts of 46.1bn; IGR, N60.4 billion and N4 billion from grants, among others.

He added that “The balance of will be sourced from development financing and financial institutions.”

Obaseki further stated, “The revenue estimates for the budget is based on a $70 per barrel benchmark for crude oil and average daily production of 1.69m barrels per day as well as an increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N60.4bn, owing to reforms in tax collection and land management activities.

“Our intention is to push for revenue and reforms in the built environment. We are committed to boosting capital spending this year.”`

Deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Toby Okechukwu has said that it would be uneasy to tackle the problem of inadequate road infrastructure in Nigeria if the fund bills were not assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Okechukwu said two bills, the roads fund bill and the road authority bill, passed by the National Assembly to give a facelift to the sector were rejected.

The lawmaker made these known when the president, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Rabiu Ali led a delegation of the association to present a letter of honorary fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to him.

The deputy minority leader, however, appealed to president Buhari and all concerned Nigerians to give attention to the bills.

He appreciated COREN for the award, saying that engineering practice was significant to the development of any society.

“I am happy that the NSE placed me at the top of their professional calling and reward system. On a serious note, engineering crisscrosses our lives. It controls 90 percent of our lives. If we neglect or ignore engineering, we do so at our peril. When we came in as Committee of Works, we were able to diagnose the challenges in the industry, capacity, personal issues and how the profession is practiced.