Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly today passed the 2020 budget proposal slashing the figure of N597.800B presented to it by the State governor by N65M bringing the budget size to N597.735B.
Presenting the report to the House, the Chairman House Committee on Appropriations and Finance, Rt. Hon. Uduak Odudoh called on the House to approve the decrease in the Capital Expenditure by N65.000 million and pass the total revised 2020 budget outlay of N597.735 billion, made up of N111.250 billion for Recurrent Expenditure, N369.577 billion for Capital Expenditure and N116.934 billion for Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges.
"That the House do pass the Appropriation Bill 2020 with the recommended amendments;
That the State Fire Service be sufficiently equipped and made functional to be able to combat the incessant fire outbreaks and emergencies in the State;
"That as a means of enhancing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), project MDAs should as much as practicable award contract to non-limited liability companies, since taxes on this category of companies are payable to the State Board of Internal Revenue as against limited liability companies that pay their taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service".
In his remarks, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey noted that by passing the budget one month before the next financial year, the Assembly was equally telling the executive that they have laid out all the financials for execution of critical infrastructure across the State.
"I want to thank all MDAs that came out in time to defend their budget estimates before the relevant committees and hereby admonish those that nearly stalled the early passage of the budget that the 7th Assembly will no longer tolerate such tardiness in her avowed readiness to work for the collective good of Akwa Ibom people.
"With today's passage of the budget, our Governor had our full backing to continue expeditiously with his goo works of industrializing the State and consolidating on his past achievements.
The Speaker gave assurances that the 7th Assembly will continue to build a robust and impactful relationship with other arms of government so that they can move the state forward.
It would be recalled that Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel presented a budget estimate of N 597.800 billion for the 2020 fiscal year to the House of Assembly.
He stated that Recurrent expenditure will get N111.225 billion of the sum, while capital expenditure gets N369.642 billion. Consolidated Revenue fund charges will gulp N116.933 billion.
The total projected recurrent revenue for 2020 was estimated at N381.556 billion as against the approved provision of N374.758 billion in 2019.
The governor said the 2020 budget christened ‘The Budget of Industrialisation for Poverty Alleviation Phase II’ was designed as a key milestone to actualise his administration’s Completion Agenda.
He noted that the estimate was predicated on oil benchmark of $55 per barrel at a production rate of N2.18 million barrels per day, with exchange rate of N305 for one United States dollar, in line with the national budget benchmark projections.
While presenting the budget, he said, “Mr. Speaker and honourable members, considering the fact that my Completion Agenda is predicated primarily on the rapid industrialisation of this state, we have christened the 2020 budget ‘The Budget of Industrialisation for Poverty Alleviation Phase II’.
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