Edo State Government has provided N34bn in next years budget for the implementation of the new minimum wage.
This was contained in the 2020 budget proposal of N177.601bn presented yesterday to the Edo State House of Assembly by the Edo State House of Assembly.
The 2020 budget which represented 3.34 percent decrease when compared to the 2019 budget comprises N85.539 billion for Recurrent and N92.062 billion for Capital expenditure, based on a $55 per barrel benchmark for crude oil and average daily production of 1.8m barrels per day as well as an increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)
Christened ‘Budget of Consolidation’, Governor Obaseki said the N34bn was for workers welfare and it represented 31 percent increase in allocations for personnel cost, due to his commitment to implementing the new minimum wage and building capacity of actors within government bureaucracy.
In other sectors, 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; 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.
According to him, “There is a 60 percent increase in allocation to the consolidated revenue fund charges. This enables the payment of monthly pensions and gratuities. It also covers the government’s monthly remittance to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) for current employees under the Contributory Pension Scheme. Edo State is ranked by the pension commission as one of the few states that is up to date with remittances to PFAs for its workers.
“In 2020, we will be hosting the National Sports Festival, which would assemble over 20,000 athletes across the country in the state for the festival. This is the first time the state is hosting the event. We have also been designated as one of the likely hosts for the U-20 Women World Cup next year.
“The Constituency Development Programme is to be implemented by the State House of Assembly and the Ward Development Committee. They are to harmonise efforts to effectively meet the most felt needs in the communities across the state.
“With the launch of the Edo State Health Insurance Scheme, the government is committing N1 billion as its contribution to
the scheme, while we expect workers across all sectors to sign up to the laudable initiative, which enhances their access to quality healthcare services.”
Governor Obaseki, who predicted a positive outlook in 2020, said the budget will advance his administration’s reforms to build a total society in Edo and consolidate on successes of the last three years.
“The outlook for 2020 is quite positive, on account of improved rating of the country by the World Bank on the Ease of Doing Business index and the expected early passage of the 2020 budget. All these are expected to spur investor confidence, among other positives. We expect stable oil prices and sustained crude oil production volumes, as Federal Government deepens reforms through a mix of Fiscal and Monetary policies to engender growth and development.
“With the state replete with evidence of efforts at enhancing social welfare of our people, improving governance, and boosting economic development, we are committed to actualising the aspirations of our people to live in a just, fair, productive and progressive state. ”
According to the governor, the 2020 budget is a statement of resolve to deepen socio-economic development and consolidate on the march for a truly productive and progressive state.
Obaseki noted, “While the stellar records of our stewardship in the last three years have left many of our peers in disbelief as to how we were able to achieve such laudable strides in the face of dire socio-economic and political challenges, we want to state unequivocally that we are marching on and are more determined than ever to deliver on our promise to industrialise and sanitise the state. This budget shows how we intend to demonstrate this resolve.
“Hence, one of our key priorities in the proposed 2020 capital expenditure framework is to strengthen capacity to meet up with the obligations to all actors of development in the state by expertly allocating our resources to projects that will impact the greatest number of people.”