The Abia state Governor Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu PhD, Monday presented N136,617 billion Appropriation Bill for the 2020 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.
In a budget tagged “Budget of economic repositioning”, the bill, has a Capital Expenditure outlay of N69.8 billion, representing 51.1 per cent, and Recurrent Expenditure of N66.8 billion, representing 48.9 per cent. Ikpeazu said that the budget outlay was less than N140. 9 billion for 2019 because of his administration’s resolve to formulate a realistic budget.
He stated that government will put in extra effort to improve on revenue generation and expenditure management approach.
The budget also had an expected Recurrent Revenue of N106.9 billion, which is made of N67.2 billion from the statutory allocation from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), representing 63.9 percent of the revenue.
The budget also had a projected Independent Revenue of N39.6 billion, representing 37.1 per cent of the revenue.
The governor said that the draft estimates were intended to strategically strengthen his administration’s achievement, especially in creating conducive environment for local and foreign investors.
According to him, the budget will also provide opportunities for human capital development, revitalizing social services as well as building critical infrastructure for sustainable development.
The governor said: “In 2020, we will work to ensure completion of ongoing projects while re-envisioning new ones that will open new frontiers. “We will ensure that only projects and programmes provided for in 2020 budget are funded,”
In his speech, the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, commended the governor and his team for early presentation of the bill to the house and noted that such a laudable feat had not been achieved in recent times.
He promised the continued support of the seventh Assembly to the governor, assuring him of accelerated hearing and passage of the bill.
He urged the governor to ensure at least 75 percent implementation of the budget, when finally passed.
According to the speaker “if implemented, the budget will fast track the repositioning of Abia economy with improvement in the most critical sectors, such as job creation, development of infrastructure and Small and Medium Enterprises in the state.
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