Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state has earmarked the sum of N34billion for workers’ welfare as part of his “commitment to implement the new minimum wage and building capacity of actors within government bureaucracy”.
The fund is part of the state’s N177.601billion 2020 budget proposal the governor presented to the State House of Assembly on Wednesday.
The workers’ welfare projection represents 31 percent increase in allocations for personnel cost compared to the 2019 fiscal year.
The budget comprises N85.539 billion for recurrent and N92.062 billion for capital expenditure, based on a $55 per barrel bench mark for crude oil and average daily production of 1.8m barrels per day as well as an increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR),
Top on the priority of the budget estimate christened ‘Budget of Consolidation’ are workers welfare, education, infrastructure, health, industrialisation, sports, security, pension and gratuities.
A breakdown of the budget showed that Security Trust Fund got N2 billion; Pension and Gratuities, N14 billion; Contribution to the State Health Insurance Scheme, N1 billion; Primary Health Care Reform, N1 billion.
Others are: the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) programme, N8 billion; Constituency Development Programme, N6 billion; National Sports Festival, N3 billion; and the Industrial Park, which will gulp N3 billion.
The 2020 budget size proposal of N177.601bn represents 3.34 percent decrease compared to the 2019 budget.
