Cross River Lawmakers Approve N642bn Supplementary Budget

Members of the Cross River State House of Assembly have approved N642.160 billion as the state’s 2025 supplementary budget.

The Assembly passed the 2025 Appropriation Law on 24th December, 2024, with an approved budget of N538.523 billion, tagged: “Budget of Sustainable Growth.”

The supplementary budget shows a variance of N142.031billion or 26% increase over the initial budget.

The Assembly stated that Governor Bassey Otu’s commitment to infrastructural development across the state’s three senatorial districts necessitated the approval of the supplementary budget.
Presenting the report to the House on Tuesday, chairman, Finance and Appropriation Committee, Mr.

Okon Owuna stated that the supplementary budget became necessary to accommodate several critical expenditures that were not earlier captured in the 2025 budget.

The Finance and Appropriation Committee chairman said, “The key factors necessitating the supplementary budget include new obligations and emergency spending not captured in the original budget, recently approved strategic programmes requiring immediate financial backing and improved outlook from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), internal grants and allocations from FAAC.

“These developments have provided the fiscal space to introduce additional expenditure across critical sectors,” Owuna maintained.

The chairman stated that the supplementary budget introduced an upward adjustment across sectors like administration, economics, law and justice, stressing that the budget will be financed from IGR, aids, grants, and the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

In his remarks, speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Elvert Ayambem averred that the supplementary budget is for citizens’ welfare.