Rivers Governor says 2017 budget records 74% performance

Governor Nyesom Wike has said that the state’s 2017 Budget recorded 74 per cent performance, representing significant improvement on that of 2016.

The governor disclosed this in Port Harcourt while presenting the 2018 Appropriation Bill to the legislature.

The governor announced that the state witnessed a 31 per cent shortfall in its targeted revenue for 2017.

Wike said that aggregate revenue receipts as at December 31, 2017 stood at N278.2 billion, representing only 69 per cent of total projected revenue.

“This left us with a shortfall of over N192 billion in spite of the sharp shortfalls in revenue receipts.

“We resisted the temptations of funding the budget through borrowing.

“This is because it will make no economic sense to spend more than what we earned and plunge the state into unnecessary debts,’’ he said.

He said the government spent N64 billion on payment of salaries; N12.5 billion on overhead and N10 billion on pensions.

According to him, N155 billion, representing 63 per cent of actual receipts, has been spent on capital projects.

Wike said his administration had been able to efficiently utilise available resources to successfully deliver on verifiable projects.

The governor projected N510 billion for the 2018 fiscal year, recording an increase of N40 billion against 2017 budget of N470 billion.

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