Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue on Tuesday presented a budget of N189 billion for 2020 to the State House of Assembly for approval.
Ortom while presenting the budget in Makurdi said it was made up of N114 billion recurrent expenditure and N74 billion capital expenditure.
The budget was N10 billion less than the 2019 budget of N199 billion representing 9.2 per cent.
He explained that N50 billion of the budget was for personnel cost, while N63 billion was for overhead adding that there were pending negotiations with the labour on the new Minimum Wage which may have effect on the budget.
The governor further disclosed that economic sector which got the highest budget was allocated N73 billion, social sector N64 billion, administration N48 billion, while law and Justice got N2 billion.
He said the implementation of the budget was dependent on the macroeconomic indices such as unchanged revenue sharing formula, N305 exchange rate to a dollar and improved Federal Government monetary policies.
“The focus of my administration for this second term is on raising the living standard of the people at the grassroots by facilitating economic growth and human capital development,” he said.
The governor further disclosed that government was experiencing challenges in the areas of salary arrears, pensions and insecurity among others.(NAN)
