The crisis rocking the Edo State government has taken a new dimension with a much reduced figure allocated to the office of the deputy governor in the state’s budget for 2024.
According to the 2024 budget document, N345 million was allocated to the Office of the Deputy Governor as against the N19bn allocated to the Office of the State Governor.
Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, may have been at loggerheads in recent months over Shaibu’s governorship ambition.
A look at the budget signed into law by Gov. Obaseki on December 15, 2023, indicates that the Office of the Secretary to the State Government got N8bn far higher than the N345m allocated to the deputy governor’s office.
The document also showed that while the House of Assembly got N13bn, the Office of the Head of Service got N968m.
Recall that Shaibu had last week said his office had not received any allocation in the last six months owing to the tension between him and his principal.
The deputy governor, who stated this at the unveiling of the Correspondent Office in Benin on Tuesday, said he had been running the office and doing other activities through goodwill and contributions from friends.
He said, “You know there is tension between the governor and me. And for six months, there has been no allocation to my office. So, whatever I am doing is contributions from friends and my goodwill; and I am still standing very strong.”
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