By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has presented a budget estimate of N102.55 billion to the state’s House of Assembly for the 2017 fiscal year.
During his presentation, the Governor said the budget has N57.4 billion allotted for recurrent expenditure, while N45.2 billion is earmarked for capital expenditure.
According to him, the budget proposal is 3.14 percent less than the N106 billion proposed for 2016.
He explained that his administration gives priority to overheads and personnel costs rather than infrastructure development that will boost its economic development.
The Governor said that the 2017 appropriation bill, titled ‘Budget of Prudence and Self-Reliance,’ was packaged with the right policy formation, fiscal planning, budget analysis, accountability and routine financial.
According to him, he plans to fund the budget with money from the Statutory Allocations from the Federation Account as well as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and other sources.
Reacting, Speaker of the state’s Assembly, Mr Chikwendu Kanu, who was newly sworn-in, promised that the Assembly would scrutinise the bill and possibly give it a quick passage.