“Whatever has comes in by way of revenue can be sustained, that is what we are using to base our budget and as such, we are able to come up with a budget envelope of about N936 billion”, Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning, Sunny Ekedayen, has said.
The Economic Planning Commissioner who said he had learnt the rules with the support of his backup staff, made the disclosure on Tuesday October 15, 2024, at the opening ceremony of the Inter-ministerial budget meeting for the 2025 fiscal year in Asaba, the State capital.
According to him, “we are basing our 2025 budget on actual receipt from June 2024 to date.
“It was N725 billion this year, that will suggestive of increase of almost 30% but again the value of money has taken a deep.
“Even through, the quantum maybe so mush but what this amount of money can do now is far less than what it would have gotten us a year back. So, I want us to put those things into consideration”.
He assured that the various MDAs, would do the best of their abilities to reach out, “it is a very serious process and I want us to be as honest as possible and then try to be as judicious too as we can because this is still not enough to service the needs of our people.
“The cost of construction and provision of infrastructure has also gone up and most times because of poverty now, there is heavy reliance on government for a lot of things and the government can only do so much”.
He appealed to the heads of the MDAs to approach the budget preparation with some measures of seriousness and realism.
At today’s event, the ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, its counterpart in environment, the Delta State Capital Territory Development Authority and the state Waste Management Board, participated while the programme continues tomorrow, Wednesday October 16, 2024.
