GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa made history on Tuesday, 19th January, 2016 when he became the first Governor of the Oil-rich Delta State to sign the state's budget in the month of January.
An excited Governor Okowa, observed that the signing of the budget, otherwise known as the 'Appropriation Bill" into law in the month of January had positioned the state government to start its implementation early enough for the benefits of the people.
it could be recalled that in the time past, either the House of Assembly approved the appropriation bill in the month of March or April, making the state to lose a lot of grounds, with complaints trailing such approval that 'the budget was not signed early, as such, no meaningful developmental programme could be embarked on before the commencement of the rain. And the vicious circle of non-implementation of budget due to its late passage continued until Governor Okowa broke the jinx. Of course, Governor Okowa understands the working of government, having been a Councilor, a Local Government Chairman, Commissioner, Secretary to the Delta State Government, and a Senator before becoming a Governor.
Delay in the signing of the Appropriation Bill, no doubt, leaves the ship of state drifting for months until it is signed.
As I wrote this piece, the controversy trailing the Federal Government's budgetary allocation for 2016 was still raging. Of course, the National Assembly is just about considering the budget which may take days, weeks or months to pass depending on the devotion of the federal law makers before it could be passed into law.
Deltans deserves to celebrate a progressive and purposeful governance that has ensured that things are done when they are supposed to be done for the benefits of the people. Evidently, most of the states in the country are still battling to draw up their budget proposals, especially, with the unpredictable price of crude oil in the international market.
Yes! The unpredictable price of crude oil has caused a lot of problems to many countries but, that of Nigeria is peculiar because, the country almost depend almost solely on revenue from crude oil, while more than 95 per cent of the states in the country depends solely on allocation from the Federation Accounts to pay salaries and carry out other programmes. With the situation, most of the states are in quagmire and there is serious doubt if they will survive the plummeting price of crude oil. But, is it possible for a state to fail in Nigeria or be bankrupt? And if such happens, what will be the faith of the indigenes and residents of such state?
As other states are gasping for breath of survival, Governor Okowa, an astute administrator, came into government and gave appointment to experts, people who understand the workings of government; people who can hold their heads high at any financial forum and people who have excelled in their chosen fields. As such, it did not come as a surprise to most of us when the Governor blazed the trail last year by presenting a modest budgetary proposal of N267.6 billion for the 2016 fiscal year which was a drastic reduction from the state's 2015 budgetary proposal of N327.6 billion.
Of course, times have greatly changed and the situation demands a realistic budget which Governor Okowa stated during its signing that, “this budget that have been assented to in good time, gives us enough room to utilize the dry season in our infrastructure development plans and I must appreciate the Speaker and members of the Delta State House of Assembly for taking their time, during the festive season to truly work on the budget, ensuring that we had a very speedy passage of the budget. With the bill that was signed into law, we have appropriated N153 billion as recurrent expenditure and N114 billion for capital expenditure and by God’s grace, we hope to work very strongly to generate the revenue to implement the budget in full.”
Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Monday Igbuya accompanied by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Friday Osanebi, the Clerk of the House, Mrs Lyna Ochulor and other principal officers of the DTHA had presented the appropriation bill christened, “Budget of Renewed Hope And Inclusive Development,” to the Governor for his assent at the Government House, Asaba at an occasion which was well attended by members of the State Executive Council.
To the Governor, a good chunk of money for the implementation of the budget would come from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). According to him, “it is our hope that the Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR) would exceed the target of N75 billion from the N40 billion that we had last year; I believe that it is achievable because, we are going to block all loopholes and ensure that more people come into the tax net.”
Already, with less than one year in office, Governor Okowa has won the confidence of Deltans as a man who knew his onions. Salaries are being paid promptly when other states are still grappling with such, empowerment programmes of different kinds are going on, roads are getting deserved attention in different parts of the state, markets are also being constructed and certainly, he has given the people a lot of reasons to give thanks to God.
It is, however, worthy to state, that the Governor had just signed the first budget mid-wifed by his administration. So, nothing short of better days lies ahead for Deltans. All that is required from you that is reading this and every other Deltan is not just to support the government with prayers but, to engage in positive actions that would make the government succeed.
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