Akwa Ibom Reduces 2020 Budget from N597.7 bn to N366 bn

-

Emmanuel Confident of Returning as Akwa Ibom Governor - THISDAYLIVE





The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has amended the state 2020 budget from N597.7 billion to N366 billion, saying the decision was to meet the economic challenges occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world.



Also, the Assembly explained that the amendment and passing of the budget into law which took place on Thursday at plenary was sequel to a letter sent by the state Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, to the state Assembly during its emergency plenary.



Briefing journalists after the plenary, the Chairman, Assembly Committee on Appropriation and Finance, Uduak Ududoh, said the recurrent expenditure of N111.22 billion earlier approved for the 2020 budget has been reduced to N98.22 billion.


He added that the capital expenditure which stood at N369.10 billion has been reduced to 186.94 billion, while the consolidated revenue charges now stood at N80.83 billion as against N116.93 billion.



The chairman explained that the total budget size approved in 2020 which was N597. 7 billion has now been reduced to N366 billion for the 2020 fiscal year, representing 38.8 per cent reduction.



The Speaker, Hon. Aniekan Bassey, who presided over the plenary, said the step taken by the governor to review the 2020 budget downward was very timely in order to brace up with the economic recession experienced globally.



He commended the governor for setting up relevant committees to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the state.


The bill had earlier passed through the first, second and third reading and was passed into law after due consideration at the Committee of Supply, chaired by the Speaker.



The House Leader, Udo Kierian, in his contribution, said the fall of the crude oil price at the international market has a negative effect on the 2020 budget, stressing that was the reason for the review.



He added that the speedy attention given by the Assembly to review the budget was to enable financial machinery for the state to operate from and also to create awareness for the Akwa Ibom people on the present reality.


Meanwhile, the House had adjourned plenary after the review of the budget, and would reconvene on May 7, 2020.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court Stops National Assembly From Taking Over Bauchi Assembly

-
Image
As the National Assembly received a report from the committee it sent to Bauchi State to probe the leadership crisis rocking the state assembly since its inauguration last month, the state high court on Monday issued an order of interim injunction ordering that the present Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Abubakar Suleiman and Danlami Kawule respectively,   should continue leading the assembly pending the determination of the suit before it. Justice Muazu Abubakar, who issued the order, fixed October 3, 2019, for hearing of the motion and substantive application filed by the speaker, deputy speaker and other 11 members of the assembly who participated in the assembly election. Abubakar said after listening to and considering the submissions made by the lawyers of the applicants Barrister Jibrin Sa'id Jibrin, A.S Idris and U.K Adam, he hereby ordered that status qou between the parties in the suit be maintained until the determination of the motion on notice. I
Read more

Population of Doctors in Nigeria Hits 74,543

-
Image
  The number of registered medical doctors in Nigeria has risen to 74,543. According to the federal government statistics, as at 2018, the stock of professionally regulated health workers in Nigeria health sector has also recorded a significant increase. The population equates to 36.3 percent of medical doctors per 100,000 population (doctor to population ratio of 1: 2753). Fifty-nine percent of the registered medical practitioners were in good standing with 35 percent being females. While presenting the statistics at a one-day workshop on Nigeria Health Workforce for Universal Health Coverage organised by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Abuja, Deputy Director, Human Resource Department, Shakuri Kadiri, said there is a variation in the distribution of medical doctors by state of practice from the reported 2012 density. He said: "The density of medical doctors presented is based on the number of doctors in good stan
Read more

UBEC Board Chairman, Daughter Freed from Captivity

-
Image
The Board Chairman of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Muhammed Mahmoud, and his daughter were on Tuesday released by their abductors. Mahmoud, his daughter and several other travellers were abducted last Monday on the Kaduna-Abuja expressway when suspected bandits open fire at them. The UBEC boss’ driver was said to have been killed during the incident. There has been no information about other commuters who were abducted by the bandits. Mahmood's freedom was confirmed in a telephone interview by Hussaini Danladi, a relation, who said they were freed from captivity at about noon yesterday. Danladi, however, did not say whether a ransom was paid before their release. The kidnappers seemed to have taken over the Kaduna-Abuja expressway which has been deserted by travellers following the deadly activities of the criminals-kidnapping, armed robbery among others Despite the massive deployment of security of personnel on t
Read more