Okowa Eyes Federal Government Allocation to Fund N298bn 2018 Budget

By Miracle Enuji

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa will largely rely on an expected allocation of N178,056,627,329 billion from the Federal Government to fund the State’s 2018 proposed budget of N298,078,478,899 billion, being 59.73% of the projected revenue sources for the 2018 budget estimate.

Governor Okowa who stated this during the presentation of the 2018 budget at the Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA) on Thursday October 19, 2017, said “Using the forecast derived from the State’s Fiscal Strategy Paper as a guide, the sum of N178.1bn or 59.73% of projected total revenue for the 2018 fiscal year is expected to come from Statutory Allocation. This amount is more than the sum of N148.9bn projected for the 2017 fiscal year by N29.1bn or 16.35%.”

He emphasized that, the increase is based on the optimism that the current peaceful atmosphere in the Niger Delta region will be sustained and that, with the relative peace being experienced, some of the oil companies who vacated the region will return to the State. “It is also our realistic expectation that the gradual improvements the Federal Government has recorded in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors will continue to impact positively on the overall expected returns in the 2018 fiscal year”.

Okowa who is among the first Governors to lay forth the 2018 budget in the country, clinically gave a break down of the proposed expenditures in front of Honourable members of the House and scores of Deltans who trooped into the Assembly complex to witness the highly anticipated event.

He added that other main sources of funds for the 2018 budget as proposed are Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) stating that the ongoing reforms in revenue collection, plugging of leakages in all revenue sources, as well as the anticipated return of oil producing companies to Delta State is expected to impact positively on our IGR in the forthcoming year. It is, therefore, our projection to generate the sum of N71.3bn as internally generated revenue in 2018, representing 23.94% of the total projected revenues. The IGR estimates for 2018 is higher than the 2017 approved estimates by N1.1bn or 1.67%.

A projected Value Added Tax of N10,767,532,297 billion representing 3.61% of the budget funding and Other Capital Receipts of N37.9bn or 71.09% were all proposed as revenue sources for 2018 budget.

Presenting the the Budget Estimates for the 2018 fiscal year, Okowa disclosed that the budget proposal of N298bn for the services of Delta State Government in 2018 comprises the sum of N147.5bn or 49.48% for recurrent expenditure, and N150.5bn or 50.52% for capital expenditure. Which shows an increase of N3.62bn or 1.21%, compared to the 2017 approved budget of N294.4bn.