Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, has signed the revised 2020 Appropriation Bill into law with a pledge to make necessary sacrifices to ensure the sustenance of critical sectors of the state’s economy amid disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The budget, which was reduced by 30 per cent from N179billion to N128.8 billion, was signed into law after the Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Frank Okiye and the leadership of the House presented it to the governor at Government House, Benin City.
Obaseki said the budget was coming at an unusual time when COVID-19 pandemic had imposed certain challenges on the state.
“The challenges may be difficult now, but in the medium and long-term, this administration would need to re-think the economy of the state. Following several reforms taken by this administration, especially in our financial management and budgeting system, and that of the economy, the impact has not been so devastating.”
“We have been able to pay workers’ salaries and also pay our pensioners on time. We will focus on critical infrastructure that is required for production. We would be realigning the Edo economy to make us stronger after the pandemic comes to an end. With this budget as a state, we need to make painful adjustments as we don’t intend to lay off workers or stop paying pensioners. We would spend more on recurrent expenditure as we keep jobs on, but it will affect capital expenditure that we wanted to undertake this year 2020.”