Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has signed the 2018 budget of N646.65 billion into law.
Of the total expenditure, recurrent expenditure stands at N94.65 billion, capital expenditure is N431.14 billion and N120.86 billion goes to consolidated revenue charges.
Governor Emmanuel who performed the exercise at the State Executive Council Chambers in Uyo, pledged his determination to implement the budget, expressing hope that the Federal Government will cooperate by fulfilling its obligation to the state.
The Governor who thanked the Leadership and members of the House of Assembly on the passage of the budget, however singled out the Chairman of the Finance and Appropriation Committee, Dr. Usoroh Akpanusoh for a job well done.
He commended Dr. Akpanusoh for his diligent efforts in getting the budget through due process, asserting that, “he went all round to make sure he did the right thing and moved through the due process.”
He thanked the State Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs for their contributions towards the budget.
Speaking to Government House reporters after the exercise, Dr. Akpanusoh explained that there were some very critical areas that needed augmentations and there were some areas that needed additional money for MDAs.
He said his committee refused to increase the budget size and opted to reduce it, maintaining that this resulted in some savings out of which more funds where channeled into those Ministries, Departments and Agencies that made request during budget defense.
“The balance of what we saved is less the total percentage of the budget that was brought to the House of Assembly by His Excellency, the Governor,” he added.
On his part, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Linus Nkan explained that the passage of budget demonstrated a great synergy between the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary in the state.
He said the adjustments by the lawmakers were made after due consultations and expressed optimism that this year’s budget will be implemented to the fullest.