The Delta State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the N390.3 billion Appropriation Bill proposed for the 2019 fiscal year.
The bill, which was passed during the plenary of the assembly, followed a report presented by the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu.
The passed bill showed an increase of N23.3 billion over the initial proposal presented to the Legislature by the State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on October 17 this year
Presenting the committee’s report during plenary, Ibori-Suenu said that the governor had earlier presented the proposed budget of N367 billion to the House of Assembly, comprising N209 billion for capital expenditure and N157 billion for recurrent expenditure.
The lawmaker explained further that after careful evaluation of the submissions of the various sub-committees of the assembly and the defence by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) during the hearing on the proposed budget, the Appropriation Committee increased the proposed budget provisions to N390.3 billion.
According to her, in view of the revised budgetary proposal, the capital expenditure has been increased to N233.2 billion while the recurrent expenditure remained at N157 billion.
Ibori-Suenu said that the committee noted that the Appropriation Bill took into consideration the new account code in compliance with the current International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAs) requirements as well as necessary macro-economic framework with national inflation, oil production benchmark, international exchange rate and the medium term expenditure framework.
The lawmaker clarified: “The 2019 Appropriation Bill was also carefully planned to improve inter and intra sector resources allocation by prioritising expenditures and dictating resources only to the most important activities with a view to ensuring overall fiscal discipline.”
In his remarks, the House of Assembly Majority Leader, Hon. Tim Owhefere, moved a motion for the House to receive the report which was seconded by the member representing Udu constituency, Peter Uviejetobor, after which it was unanimously adopted by the assembly.
The lawmaker also moved a motion for the Assembly to suspend “Order 12, 77, 78, 79 and 90’’ to enable the Assembly take the third reading and pass the bill.
Contributing to the debate on the Appropriation Bill, the Speaker, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, commended the lawmakers for their commitment to the passage of the Appropriation Bill, describing it as a legislative `milestone’.
