Bayelsa State Governor, Sen Douye Diri has presented a 2022 Appropriation Bill of N310.7 billion to the State House Assembly.
Tagged, “Budget of Sustainable Growth”, the bill has the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure having the highest allocation of N51 billion to drive the “critical infrastructure” programme.
The Ministry of Agriculture was allotted N12 billion, followed by the education and health sectors, which got N4 billion each while the Ministry of Finance was allotted N3 billion.
The Governor stated that the Ministries of Power, Transport and Information, Strategy and Orientation got N1.5 billion each while that of Housing and Rural Development, Special Projects and Ijaw National Affairs were allotted N1 billion each.
The Ministry of Water Resources received N600 million, while ministries of Trade and Investment, Budget and Economic Planning, Science and Technology, Culture and Tourism, and Youths and Sports Development got N500 million each.
Giving a breakdown of the budget, Sen Diri said capital expenditure would gulp N110.98 billion representing 35.72% of the budget while personnel cost was estimated at N67,413,549,335, representing 21.69% of the total projected expenditure.
Running cost was also estimated at N70,568,791,500, which is 22.71% of the total budget estimate.
Consolidated revenue fund charges, pension and gratuity, Group of 32 Rural Development Areas, federal deductions, debts repayment and other deduction were estimated at N61,755,267,518, which represent 19.88% of the total budget.
Sen Diri also highlighted the budget revenue estimates with an opening balance of N1.902 billion, which include statutory allocation of N43.034 billion, Value Added Tax 15.233 billion, 13% derivation N117.3 billion, excess crude N43.57 billion, internally generated revenue N20 billion among other items, and a loan of N43.57 billion to make up a grand total of N310.7 billion.
He said the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Strategy Paper was based on some key assumptions, which are crude oil production per day of 1.88 million barrels, oil price projections of 57 US dollars to a barrel, and an exchange rate of N410.15 to $1.
The Governor said expected aids and grants from development partners at national and international levels were estimated at N24.7 billion which is 8% of the total budget estimate, noting that the government projected a deficit of N45.5 billion, which is 14.4% of the total budget to be funded by loans.
Reporting by Alambo Datonye; editing by Muzha Kucha