2022 Budget:  Delta earmarks 80% for ongoing projects

The Commissioner for Economic Planning in Delta State, Dr. Barry Pere-Gbe, on Thursday, disclosed that the state government has allocated about 80 per cent of the 2022 budget to completion of ongoing projects in the state.

Dr. Pere-Gbe, at the resumed budget defence by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state, said that the projections for the 2022 Fiscal year has shown an estimated 10 per cent growth from the 2021 approved budget of N383.95 billion.

The Economic Planning Commissioner explained that  the increase was occasioned, among other factors, by the establishment of three new universities in the state.

The Commissioner, at a press briefing  after the Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, had made his presentation of the estimated budget of his ministry, envisaged a N425 billion tentative 2022 budget after interacting with 10 MDAs during the budget defence held at the Conference Room of the Felix Ibru State Secretariat.

Pere-Gbe highlighted: ‘’In line with the principles of participatory democracy, we interact with the public and also with the MDAs. We believe that budgeting should be a bottom-up approach in governance. This means that it should come from the people.

“The Okowa administration is a government that is intending to finish strong. We have just the 2022 budget to look at and so the engagements have enabled us to know the build-up towards what we will be finishing with.

“It is a budget that will be N425 billion tentatively which is a growth from the 2021 budget. In the year 2022, we will be able to complete so many of the facilities across the three new universities. The budget size of the Ministry of Higher Education will grow far beyond what it is today.

‘’I expect a 200 per cent growth in subsequent budget to complete a lot of the facilities in the new universities so that we can pursue accreditation in the institutions.”

Aniagwu on presentation of the budget estimates for his Ministry (Information), said that the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration favoured a bottom-up approach in preparing the 2022 budget to capture the aspirations of the people.

During his presentation, the Information Commissioner submitted an audacious budget proposal which, he said, was intended to reposition the state media outfits and their coordinating ministry, and also consolidate on the legacies of Governor Okowa for posterity.