Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Monday in Asaba assented to the state’s 2021 Appropriation Bill of N383 billion.

The bill tagged “Budget of Economic Recovery” is made up of N210 billion capital expenditure and N173 billion recurrent expenditure

The Delta House of Assembly increased the budget figure of N378.48 proposed by the governor to N383 billion.

Signing the budget, Okowa assured the people that the state would strive to recover from the economic challenges engendered by Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The governor commended the state house of assembly for the speedy passage of the bill.

He said that signing the budget before December would avail the state government the opportunity to further plan towards its implementation from January, 2021.

According to him, the state government would remain focused on the implementation of the budget as passed, for the benefit of the people.

The governor noted that there was a warm working relationship between the executive and the legislature in the state.

“You have just witnessed my signing into law, the 2021 Appropriation Bill, and as I said on Oct. 27, during the presentation of the bill, we are in very difficult times this year.

“The second wave of the pandemic will create a further challenge for the recovery of the economy of our nation.

“However, we are optimistic that in the 2021 fiscal year, things will gradually improve and we will be able to get back to the desired levels of infrastructural and human capital development for our people.

“There is a lot of unemployment, and our people are generally getting restive nationally.

“I pray that God will help us and this nation to rediscover ourselves and to commit every work of our people and our state and nation for the common good of all our citizens.

The budget is termed ‘budget of economic recovery’ because we are very much aware of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on both our health systems and the economy of the country.

“The pandemic obviously impacted negatively on our budget in 2020 that we had to reduce it twice in the year.

“I want to appreciate our contractors who have continued to stay in their various sites to work even when it is becoming increasingly difficult to make payments on contractual agreements already made.

“We will continue to be very responsible as a state, and we will continue to work with them to deliver on our projects,” he said.

DailyPost