Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson on Friday presented an appropriation bill of over N295 billion to the state House of Assembly for deliberation and approval for the 2018 fiscal year.

Presenting the budget on the floor of the House in Yenagoa, Dickson said the estimates comprised a capital expenditure of about N146.9 billion.

The Appropriation Bill is christened “Finishing Strong on Development, Stability and Prosperity Volume One”.

The Governor said the budget would focus on consolidation and completion of ongoing capital projects, particularly the three senatorial roads and the state airport.

Dickson, who described the outgoing year as ground breaking and challenging, expressed the hope that there would be increased revenue as evidenced in the rise in federal allocation in the last two quarters of the year.

On sectoral allocations, he announced N36 billion for Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, which got the lion share, followed by Education with over N22 billion while health had N8.5 billion.

Power Ministry was allocated N6.5 billion; Ministry of Information has N2 billion; N2.5 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Lands and Survey while N2 billion was earmarked for Community Development.

Others are Science and Technology which got N1 billion with Trade, Industry and Investment having N4 billion.

The governor assured that by 2018, the government would do more work on education development.

He said the budget would focus on urban housing scheme for civil servants.

Dickson added that with the ongoing verification in the civil service, the embargo on employment would be lifted so that fresh blood would be injected into the system. (NAN)

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