By Sunday Iduh
Benue State House of Assembly (BSHA) has approved a supplementary budget of 20,000,682,634 naira for the state, following the recent third reading of the Benue State Revenue, Recurrent and Capital Expenditures Supplementary Appropriation Bills, 2020 after its clause-by-clause consideration in a committee of supply.
Leading the debate, Chairman, House Standing Committee on Appropriation, Peter Enemari presented the findings of the committee to the House from the brief and estimate received from the Benue State Planning Commission and interface with relevant public sector entities.
He explained that most of the public sector entities captured in the supplementary estimates have extra-budgetary expenditures, especially personnel cost, due to the 2020 revised estimates.
The member representing Ogbadibo State Constituency, noted that Public Sector Entities (PSEs) captured in the supplementary estimates were not consulted when the 2020 approved revised estimates were considered, saying it affected them negatively
The House unanimously called on Benue State Planning Commission to consult with public sector entities before any approved budget is revised to forestall negative impact that the 2020 revised estimate has had on their operations.
With the approval, Recurrent Expenditure is now N82,602,763,502 naira, while Capital Expenditure is 26,219,919,679 naira.
Recall that the supplementary estimates was presented to the House on Thursday, 5 November, 2020.
Speaker, Titus Uba thanked his colleagues for doing justice to the bill, in view of the exigencies of time.
