By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Cross River 2017 Budget of N707B is a model for budgeting with a vision, reasoning and reality.
INFINITE TRANSPOSITION (INFITRANS ) is a modern Economic and Mathematical development model of fiscal engineering deployed into Governance to advance an economic democratic process that facilitates endless, seamless and contiguous project and program expenditure all round, allowing room for inner triangulation and circumlocution without necessarily changing the overall shape of the fiscal structure .
Infinite transposition is a more advanced model of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework MTEF document and the Fiscal Strategy Paper FSP.
This principle was invented by Senator Professor Ben Ayade, Governor of Cross River state as an intellectual investment deployed successfully in the state and Nigeria.
The importance of infrastructure for economic growth and development in any society cannot be overestimated. It has often been posited that the level of economic development in any society directly depends on the development of infrastructure.
Infrastructure means those basic facilities and services which facilitates different economic activities and thereby help in economic development of the country. Broadly speaking, infrastructure can be divided into two basic categories: economic infrastructure and social infrastructure.
Economic infrastructure refers to the all the internal services provided by the state in order to facilitate business activity, production and consumption.
These services are vital for the economic growth and GDP of a nation since it attracts investors to invest in setting up firms. The services include water, electricity and power, roads and railways, airports and ports, telecommunications and internet etc.
Social infrastructure means those basic activities and services which, in addition to achieving certain social objectives, indirectly help various economic activities. Some notable social infrastructure include education, health service, sanitation etc.
It goes without saying then that the development of quality infrastructure is essential in Cross River State.
It is in the light of this that the indefatigable governor of Cross River State, Senator Professor Ben Ayade is totally committed to the development of the needed infrastructure in the state.
This is inspite of the dwindling resources accruing to the state from the federally allocated and internally generated revenue.
Due to the following, the governor is left with no other option than to drive his aggressive infrastructural development in the state through innovative financial engineering.
However, one of the highest quality investment so far made by the Governor is the intellectual value chain addition to wit, Ayadesian theory, Solution and Reverse Engineering, Infinite Transposition, Deep Vision, Differential Calculus, Kanetian Kinetics, Innovation Financial Engineering etc.
The innovative financial engineering focuses on income base expansion while also making allowance to warehouse third party investor funds via the creation of an absorption portfolio on the basis of Vision, Reasoning And Reality.
In the Cross River State 2017 budget of N707 billion tagged budget of infinite transposition, capital expenditure including infrastructure development was allocated more than eighty percent.
The figure represents the actual Expenditure and Fiscal Consumption Capacity of the state, measured by its vision, ambition and reasoning built on reality.
Some of the economic infrastructure projects proposed in the 2017 budget include the Bakassi Deep Sea Port, the Bakassi – Katsina Ala Super Highway, the Calabar Power plant including the solar and wind power farms, New Cities across the 3 senatorial district, Calas Vegas, Centicort and Northicort and the urbanization of 5 New LGA headquarters in Itigidi, Akamkpa, Odukpani, Boki and Yala.
Others include the investment in a Cross River State owned airline (CallyAir) and merchant vessels for maritime trade, investment in 4G internet facility and Calabar digital city project and more.
These are in addition to the several other roads construction and rehabilitation work including inter and intra city roads across the entire state.
The proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport and the 260km Bakassi – Katsina Ala Superhighway are estimated to cost about N700 billion.
These projects are expected to be funded through investor funds in a public private partnership model with the ultimate target of approaching completion by 2019 to 2021.
Last week, the vision for the building of the deep seaport began to materialize with the conclusion of plans to begin construction by Governor Ben Ayade and Chinese investors.
The Governor led a Technical Team from the state to conclude the funding pact with the Chinesse investors.
For the social infrastructure aspect, there are plans for massive renovation of basic education and primary health care facilities across the state.
This can already be seen with Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board set to commence rehabilitation and re-construction of about 235 primary schools across the state.
More of these efforts are set to continue through out the year even as some projects have been earmarked for many secondary and tertiary institutions in the state, including the Comprehensive Health Centers across the state in selected LGAS based on needs assessment.
For the health sector, a total sum of about ten billion Naira has been budgeted for this year as Cross River State is set to witness massive rehabilitation and facility upgrade and for the supply of portable water in the state, proposals have been made for the completion of urban water schemes in Obudu, Abi and other locations that work is ongoing.
For the first time the state budget has accommodated N3B for Constituency Projects to cover the 25 State Constituencies of the state House of Assembly. Each member has already nominated a project after series of town hall meetings.
The Cross River State Food Bank Commission is also fully funded in the budget. Already the commission carried out successful distribution of food items across the 196 political Wards in the state.
The Cross River State Direct Labour Scheme program is allocated over N14B to be drawn as 10 percent Direct Labour Retention Work Content which will be awarded to skilled empowered youths of the state.
The Governor’s Enterprise Academy Project Fund is also provided for in the budget to provide financial support for enterprise innovation and creativity.
The sum of N35B is earmarked for the completion of existing projects inherited from the last administration these include Rural Roads, ITM Ugep, Songhai Farm, Golf Course and convention center, Rural Electrification etc.
A more detailed sector by sector and MDA’S allocation of the budgetary allocation has already been released by S.A. Budget and the State Economic Adviser.
Emmanuel Etim is a development consultant based in Nigeria.