The Edo State House of Assembly has approved a supplementary budget of N409.2 billion for the 2024 fiscal year, following a request from Governor Godwin Obaseki.
This approval comes just five months after the governor assented to the initial 2024 appropriation bill, which was set at N342.83 billion.
The revision marks an increase of N66.4 billion to the original budget. Governor Obaseki had previously signed off on the initial budget on December 22, 2023, which itself was N17.5 billion higher than the N321.4 billion originally proposed to the House.
The approval was prompted by the governor’s letter requesting the revision, which was subsequently considered and approved by the House.
Lawmakers supporting the revised budget argued that the additional funds would help the governor complete his eight-year administration on a strong note. They also emphasized the importance of securing legislative backing for the implementation of the new N70,000 minimum wage for state workers and the completion of ongoing projects.
The motion for the supplementary budget was moved by Charity Aiguobarueghian, the Majority Leader, who highlighted its necessity for project completion and worker compensation. Other legislators, including Maria Edeko, the Deputy Speaker, and Eric Okaka, the Minority Leader, also voiced their support.
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With the supplementary budget, recurrent expenditure has been increased to N182, 446,255,325, 16 billion, while capital expenditure stood at N226, 771, 634, 923, 71billion as against the earlier assented budget of N154, 276,225,868,96 billion and N188,549,744,040,26 billion, respectively.
Speaker of the House Blessing Agbebaku concluded the deliberation by stating that a clean copy of the approval would be sent to Governor Obaseki for his assent.
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