Cross River State Governor, Bassey Edet Otu, presented the 2024 appropriation bill of N250bn (N250,000,000,000) to the state House of Assembly on Thursday.
Otu christened the 2024 appropriation bill the ‘People’s First Budget’ in Calabar.
The 2024 budget is made up of N154,000,000,000 set aside for capital expenditure, while N96,000,000,000 is proposed for recurrent expenditure.
According to him, “We have prioritised a higher capital expenditure over recurrent expenditure in our public expenditure structure.
As a deliberate principle, we have maintained a higher capital-recurrent expenditure of 61.6% to 38.4%.
This not only emphasises the importance of structural development but is also a demonstration of the state’s commitment to the provision of much-needed infrastructural facilities in our rural and urban centres.
“For the 2024 fiscal year, the State Government is expecting the sum of One Hundred and Thirty-Three Billion Three Hundred Million Naira (N133,300,000,000) from the Federation Allocation Account (FAAC), while independent revenue is estimated at Thirty-Five Billion Three Hundred and Twenty-Two Million Seven Hundred and Forty-Seven Thousand Five Hundred and Ninety-Four Naira (N35,322,747,594), he added.
The governor further disclosed that the projection in the estimates for the 2024 fiscal year is aligned with some Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Primary among them are Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 5: Gender Equality Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth Goal 9: Industry, innovation, infrastructure, and Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, stressing that his administration shall remain focused on expenditure prudence and prioritise resource allocation to meet the aforementioned goals.
He sued for the cooperation of all members of the hallowed chambers in the areas of expeditious passage of people-centred laws, ratification and approvals sought by the executive arm of government, and the exercise of diligent oversight over budget implementation.
The governor maintained that, “from the analysis of our proposed programme of action in the 2024 fiscal year, it is discernible that what we need is the convergence of ideas, opinions, and efforts towards achieving the desired results. We also need prayers for God’s wisdom, guidance, and direction so as to have the new Cross River State we envisage in 2024.
The Speaker, Cross River State House of Assembly, Rtd. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, in his remarks, commended the executive arm for the timely presentation of the 2023 budget estimate and assured of the commitment of the Assembly to ensure quick passage of the appropriation bill.
However, he highlighted several challenges faced by lawmakers in the state, such as the actualization of legislative autonomy and a lack of means to carry out oversight functions, and called on the governor to address those issues.
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