Ortom signs Benue’s revised 2020 budget into law 

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Monday signed the revised 2020 state budget of N108.82 billion into law.

Ortom, who signed the revised budget at the Government House in Makurdi, said the initial budget estimate for 2020 was N190.89 billion.

According to him, the recurrent expenditure had been reduced from N108.55 billion to N68.56 billion in the new budget.

He said: “This figure represents a reduction of N80.660 billion or 43 percent from the approved year 2020 revenue estimates.

“Personnel cost was reduced from N50.637 billion to N37.286 billion while overhead had been slashed from N63.911 billion to N31.271 billion.

“Capital cost was reduced from N74.934 billion to N40.265 billion and the total reduced from N190.886 billion to N108.822 billion.

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“You will all recall that the 2020 budget was reviewed and passed by the State House of Assembly and I, duly signed it into law on December 30, 2019 for implementation with effect from January 1, 2020.

“However, by the end of the first quarter it became clear that we must revise the budget as a result of the global economic shocks created by the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is in response to these changing circumstances that we have been forced to revise the macroeconomic projections on which the approved budget was set.”

The governor added that based on the projections, the state was facing a fall in both oil-related and non-oil revenues, which could be between 57 and 67 percent drop over the course of the year.

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