By Raphael Onyekachukwu
To actualize 2016 budget appropriation, Enugu State government says it will adopt the Treasury Single Account model and further sustain the Pay Direct System in the collection of all aspects of revenue.
Speaking during Budget Breakdown at Enugu State NUJ Press Center, the Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mrs. Uche Offor, said government is working towards plugging all loopholes for revenue leakages in its bid to shore up internally generated revenue in the state.
“This government is determined to plug all loopholes for revenue leakages in the state this year,” she said, stating that collection of government revenue would be by Pay Direct system.
Mrs Offor said government would adopt six strategies to achieve the objectives of the 2016 Budget
The strategies include consolidating on the gains of the year 2015 Budget; completion of ongoing projects; increased involvement of the private sector in the development of the state and provision of social and economic infrastructure in the rural and urban areas.
The state government also intends to diversify and intensify the resources and revenue base of the state and have effective collaboration with other arms of government, as strategies for achieving the objective of the budget.
She said “in view of the above, the state government budgeted the sum of N85, 179, 449,000.”
According to the commissioner, the 2016 budget is lower than the 2015 budget by N11.55billion, representing a decrease of 12%.
“The decrease was necessitated by the realities of the times with respect to revenue inflow from Federal Allocation”, she said.
The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure got the highest allocation of N20.44billion followed by health and education with N2.09billion and N1.32billion respectively.
The Enugu State government budgeted the sum of N85.18 billion as expenditure for the 2016 fiscal year.
Responding to questions on while the government refused to access over N4 billion Universal Basic Education Matching Grants and N2 billion MDG matching grants accrued to the state the Finance Commissioner, said the government have concluded plans to access N1.6 billion UBC and N600 MDG million matching grants before the end of February, 2016.
