Slump in oil price won’t affect 2020 budget, Gov Okowa assures

From Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

The Delta State Government on Thursday reiterated its commitment on strong implementation of the 2020 Appropriation Law despite of the recent slump of oil price in the international market.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, it would be recalled had on December12, 2019 assented to the 2020 budget of N395,47 billion with a promise to fast track infrastructural projects in the state.
But in reaction to the volatility of the oil sector, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu who spoke to journalists in Asaba, however expressed optimism that the state government had structured the budget in line with the prevailing realities, stressing that more emphasis was placed on capital expenditure of the budget ( N223.32billion) as it directly impacted the lives of the people as against placing premium on the recurrent side which he described as the bane of the national budget
He said,” Being realistic,we have examined the revenue accruals and expenditure profile of the state and we came to the conclusion that what we have done is very realistic in terms of price of oil, we are mindful of its volatility and we are not just depending on oil price, even though Nigeria remains a mono economy, we intend to deepen our drive in terms of developing our Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR), without having to suffer the pockets of Deltans”, and noted that human capital development remained the priority of the Okowa administration, even as he revealed that the state government would also construct more roads and develop other infrastructure for rural urban linkage
Aniagwu explained that the administration would in 2020 this year continues to lay adequate slant on the components of its SMART Agenda which include Job and wealth creation, peace building, accelerated industrialization of the state, agricultural reforms , the rekit of the health and education sectors via the introduction of relevant policies and the transformation of the environment without prejudice to its other equally worthy development initiatives not directly captured under the SMART Agenda
The Information Commissioner said that the Okowa administration would not only continue to stroke the fires of the Implementation of the SMART Agenda as in the previous years, but would also up its ante in order to live up to its status as a superlative performer and live out the critical import of its Stronger Delta vision, adding that the state will continue to lead in all infrastructural developments.