Akeredolu signs N170.8bn 2017 budget, promises improved capital expenditure

Ondo state Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has signed the 2017 Appropriation Bill totalling N170.85 billion into law. Th e governor, who vowed to depart from the practice of expending a disproportionate percentage of budgetary allocations on recurrent expenditure, also promised to improve the state’s fi nances through dynamic revenue generation policy.

According to him, his administration will tackle the huge defi cit in various sectors adding he hopes to reduce the embarrassing imbalance between recurrent and capital expenditure. “Th is bill has a provision of N170, 846, 580 billion broken into debt service (principal) N8.127 billion, statutory transfers N8.374 billion, recurrent expenditure N95.159 billion, and capital expenditure N59.187 billion. “Th ese fi scal estimates have been scrutinised meticulously to capture the aspirations of this administration on real development.

“It is important to state that the government has initiated special intervention strategies on agriculture, job creation, infrastructure, education, technology and rural development. Further, he said the administration is not unmindful of the dire challenges faced by it, with regards to budget implementation, mainly due to the paucity of funds. “We are, however, determined to improve our fi scal circumstances substantially, through revenue generation.

We shall devise means of plugging loopholes exploited by unscrupulous elements to deny the State of deserved revenue. “We shall expand our tax base aggressively. Th is administration requires the cooperation of all concerned in ensuring that all revenues accruable to the State are realised with minimal stress,” he said.

Th e Governor thanked members of the House of Assembly for promptly scrutinising and passing the 2017 Appropriation Bill. Earlier, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, David Oleyelogun, appreciated members of the House for their cooperation and commitment towards making the budget a reality. Th e Speaker noted that the Governor sent the appropriation of N169, 720, 580 000.00 to the House. “After justice was done to the appropriation bill, some additions and subtractions were made in certain areas, after which the diff erence of N1,126,000,000 occurred to take care of tertiary institutions in the state”, he stated. NPC holds pre-retirement workshop

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