By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Cross River House of Assembly has passed the 2018 appropriation bill of NGN1.3trillion presented by Governor Ben Ayade.
Mr. Ayade had presented the budget before the House on November 30, 2017 and tagged it a “Buget of Kinetic Crystallization” which drew mixed reactions from the masses.
And, on Thursday during plenary, the Chairman of the finance and appropriations committee, Mr. Jones Eteng-Williams (PDP, Yakurr 2) presented the report of the committee and said that the relevant house committees had a thorough interface with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies before considering the passage of the budget.
According to Mr. Eteng-Williams, the budget was designed by Mr. Ayade to promote infrastructural and economic development in the state.
He said NGN4.4billion was budgeted for the Carnival Commission to enable it organize a better event than that of previous years.
An estimated NGN108.5 billion is expected as recurrent revenue, while NGN136.6 billion is earmarked for recurrent expenditure with personnel cost to gulp NGN34 billion.
“For rural roads, we have budgeted the sum of NGN6.7 billion to accelerate rural development through provision of basic infrastructure such as roads, portable water, health and others in rural communities.
“For Agriculture, the sum of NGN10.9 billion has also been budgeted for the sector,” said Mr. Eteng-Williams.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Mr John Gaul-Lebo, commended members of the committee for a thorough job and maintained that the budget when fully implemented will accelerate speedy urban and rural development in the state.
He lauded Mr. Ayade for the prompt payment of workers’ salaries and for the numerous political appointments given to the youths in the state.
“The governor has transformed Cross River from a civil service state to an economic hub. We must all join our hands and give him the necessary support to do more,” he said.
Also, he directed the Clerk of the House, Mr. Bassey Ekpenyong, to prepare a clean copy of the budget and send to the governor for his assent.
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