The Imo State Government has slashed its 2020 budget by N51 billion.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said after the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Hope Uzodinma in Owerri on Wednesday the state government decided to reduce the budget from N140 billion to N89 billion because of dwindling incomes resulting from the
Coronavirus pandemic.
Emelumba said the proposal would be forwarded to the House of Assembly for action.
He lamented that the pandemic had seriously affected the state’s Internally Generated Revenue and allocation from the Federal government.
The commissioner said the development had forced the state government to slash recurrent expenditure from N32 billion to N19.6 billion while personnel cost was increased from N8.9 billion to N9.7 billion.
Emelumba said the state government reduced subventions from N33.8 billion to N17 billion.
According to him, the review will help the state to execute its projects.
He said the council decided to reopen school to enable students to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
However, Emelumba said the school would reopen after the state government had discussed with education stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the state COVID-19 Containment Task Force, Prof. Maurice Iwu, yesterday said the state had so far tested 2,064 samples for coronavirus.
Iwu said in Owerri after submitting the first phase of the committee’s work 389 out of the samples tested positive, with 365 negative.
He blamed the increasing cases on non-observance of safety protocols.
The former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission said it was a criminal act for anyone not to wear face masks in public places.
He said: “We have ended the first phase of our assignment which dealt mainly on the fight
against the virus and preventing it from entering the state and handed the report to the governor.”
GUARDIAN
