From Victor Osula
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has approved the dates for the payment of the 13th month salary pledge to workers in the State.
Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, said that while the December salary would be paid on December 11th, the 13th-month salary would be paid on December 27th.
According to him, “The Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has approved the date for the payment of the 13th-month salary to workers.
“The December salary would be paid on December 11th while the 13th-month salary would be paid on December 27th.
“This is in line with the Governor’s unwavering commitment to the welfare of workers in the State, which has been sustained for the past seven years.
“it is pertinent to state the Governor Obaseki-led administration has kept fate with payment of salaries. In this period, there has not been a default, as workers receive their salary on or before the 26th of every month. Same thing applies to pensioners in the State.
“This is also as there have been regular promotions, with the latest being January 2023. There is a conductive work environment across six hubs in the State and the workers are enrolled in the Contributory Pension Scheme, which ensures they enjoy Life Insurance Benefits among others. Workers have never had it this good in Edo State.”
Meanwhile Obaseki has presented a budget of N325.3 billion for 2024 to the State House of Assembly for approval.
The budget is over 4bn higher than the 2023 appropriation of N321.4bn.
Tagged ”Budget of Home Run and Finishing Strong,” Obaseki said it was made up of N178 billion capital expenditure and N146 billion recurrent expenditure.
While the total projected revenue for 2024 was N303 billion, consisting of N55 billion statutory allocations, VAT N38 billion, Capital receipts of 40 billion, IGR N72 billion and N10 billion from grants, the Governor said the balance would be sourced from development financing and financial institutions.
The revenue estimate for the budget was based on a 65 dollars per barrel benchmark for crude oil and average daily production of 1.6m barrels per day as well as an increase in IGR to N72 billion.
“A total of 25 per cent of the total budget (N85 billion) would be allocated to areas that would stimulate growth and employment while 19 per cent (N62.8 billion) would be allocated to infrastructure, particularly roads.
“Others are 10 per cent (N33.6) allocated to health, 16 per cent to other government activities, 10 per cent of the total budget (32.2 billion) allocated to education, seven per cent (N21 billion) allocated to building and social welfare five per cent (N16 billion)
“Two per cent each was also allocated to climate and environment issues, electricity, youths and agriculture,” he said.
Speaker of the House, Blessing Agbebaku, said the “2024 budget is special to us in the legislative arm, as it is going to be inclusive of our constituency projects to allow us meet the yearnings and aspirations of our constituents,” he said.
Agbebaku urged all MDAs to provide the house committees with necessary documents that would aid the speedy passage of the budget.
