Anambra State governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has presented the sum of N410 billion to the state legislators for approval as the state government’s budget for 2024 fiscal year.
The budget is about 57.8 percent increase on the current 2023 state’s budget of N258.984 billion.
Soludo said the proposed budget comprises recurrent expenditure of N96.2 billion (23.46 percent) while capital expenditure is N313.9 billion (76.54 percent).
Also, the amount which was presented to the lawmakers yesterday at the state House of Assembly has a deficit of N120.8 billion.
Allocations to the various key sectors as disclosed by Soludo are: Administrative sector (50.85 percent); Economic sector (103.43 percent); Judiciary (72.9 percent); Social Sector (60.24 percent); Education (140.88 percent); Health (169.55 percent); Infrastructure investment (119.84 percent) while Overhead costs is 34.1 percent.
Soludo said, “While consolidating and expanding the ongoing programmes and projects, the emphasis on the sectors as indicated above signal new vistas.
“Three new cities are part of the new Masterplan for Anambra: Awka 2.0; Onitsha 2.0; and a new Industrial City (with Export Emporium and potentials for a possible future airport).
“An industrial master-plan is being finalized while the railway master-plan/feasibility study is also being completed.”
The governor stated that the $200 million project development, advisory and financing agreement signed recently by his administration with Afreximbank is part of the new development agenda of the government.
“We will continue to address the Ease of Doing Business. With the completion of the Fun City, the myriad of infrastructural development as well as the coming of a branded international hotel in Awka, both Awka 1.0 and Awka 2.0 will merge to give Anambra a befitting capital city. Urban regeneration will be aggressively pursued,” he said.
He stated that the environment remains an existential threat, and under the 2024 budget, his administration will intentionally accelerate its agenda on clean, green, planned and sustainable Anambra.
He said infrastructural development of his government will deliberately target the provision of transportation systems that will serve the next generations by targeting the dualization of key highways and modernising the mass transport systems.
Also, he said a new electricity market will be created, and the security operations will be upgraded with high technology applications even with barely 4% of the budget for security.
Soludo explained that the budget is planned to signal a significant investment in urban and semi-urban water schemes, and urged the people of the state to expect water running again from taps in 2024.
He promised that in 2024 students and teachers will smile as never before while youths and Anambra students in tertiary institutions will smile even more.
The poor and the vulnerable persons will be taken care of while more than additional 100,000 households will receive 10 or more seedlings of coconut, palm, ukwa, pawpaw, soursop, etc per household.
He told the legislators that the government is mainstreaming the sports economy, to ensure that the state football team will debut in 2024.
Soludo lamented that the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) remains a fundamental challenge to his administration.
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