Governor Ayade Seeks Revision Of 2015 Appropriation

By Aplefe Ojong

The Governor of Cross River State, Senator Benedict Ayade has written to the State House of Assembly requesting for the revision of the 2015 Appropriation Law.

A letter dated September 3, 2015 and addressed to the Speaker of the House, indicates that the governor is requesting for a revision of the 2015 budget by downsizing the budget from N152B to N127B.

In his letter to the House, the Governor also promised to complete existing projects captured in the budget.

He also used the opportunity to introduce the concept note for his signature projects.

The concept note content covered designs, feasibility, initial site clearing process for the Sea Port, Super Highway, Garment factory and new cities development in each senatorial district.

Ayade further stated that the revised 2015 budget size of N127, 852,452,515.00 Billion will not affect ongoing projects. He assured that the adjustment still accommodates the Signature Projects and programs for the economic and social development of the state.

The governor explained that the revised budget is predicated on Section 21 (a & b), Section 229 (a & b) and especially Section 23 of Cross River State Law No 13 of 2011”.

In the revised budget proposal under Recurrent Expenditure, the budget maintained the 2015 Appropriation figures of N61, 114,765,805.00 Billion with Internal sources at N25, 046,053, 654.00Billion and Federal sources at N36, 068,712, 151.00Billion.

Personnel Cost is N25, 131, 748, 113.00 Billion as against 2015 approved budget of N25, 109,657, 537.00 Billion; Overhead Cost in the revised budget is N16, 203, 584, 051.00 Billion, while the approved budget of 2015 is N16, 296, 080, 975.00 Billion.

N13, 801, 402, 314.00 Billion Statutory is under revised, while N13, 803, 370, 530.00 Billion is under the approved 2015 budget. The total expenditure of revised is put at N55, 136, 734, 478.00 Billion while the approved budget figures stood at N55, 209, 109, 042.00 Billion.

In conclusion, Ayade reasoned that “with the continuous dwindling finances of our state, I am thus appealing to the House to expedite action on the processes of passing this revised 2015 budget into law.

“This is because of the revenue generating/yielding aspect of the projects/programs injected into the approved budget.”

He assured the Speaker that his administration will not play ‘hocus-pocus’ with the activities injected into the budget.

CrossRiverWatch gathered that the Bill has been referred to the House Committee on Appropriation for Committee engagements with the MDAs.