Akwa Ibom Proposes N840.6bn 2024 Budget

Akwa Ibom State Executive Council (SEC) has proposed N840.6 billion budget estimate for the 2024 fiscal year, it was learnt, yesterday.

This was the major resolution of the Wednesday night‘s SEC meeting chaired by the governor, Umo Eno, at the Exco Chambers of Government House, Uyo, the state capital.

The budget, when passed and assented into law by the governor, LEADERSHIP Friday gathered, would be deployed into tackling various sectoral reforms including agriculture, health, education, youths and women empowerment, rural development, physical infrastructure as well as the completion of abandoned projects by the administration of former governor Udom Emmanuel.

The breakdown of the figures, as presented by the finance commissioner, Mr Nsikan Linus Nkan, shows total recurrent expenditure of N352.737 billion, while capital expenditure is estimated at N487.895 billion, bringing the total budget to N840,632,409,990.

The commissioner for information and strategy, Comrade Iniobong Ememobong, who addressed journalists after the meeting, said the estimate was approved „after careful deliberations by members and subsequent approval through a motion duly moved and seconded.“

Other issue on the floor, the commissioner recalled, was the nagging problem of water and sanitation in the state, which he said has drawn the attention of the government, as the governor, according to him, has directed the commissioner for water resources and sanitation, „to ensure that water works within the Uyo metropolis and select rural areas are reactivated and made functional, in the first phase of the drive to provide water across the state.

He said other resolutions reached at meeting include: „The Exco frowned at the illegal reopening of the Chinese company, Golden Tripod Company, which has been accused of undertaking operations that are hazardous to human health and inimical to the environment. It was resolved that the facility be permanently closed down and an alternative land allocated to them at the industrial estate at Itam.

„The governor informed the Exco that an additional one-month basic salary will be paid to civil servants in December, for their Christmas break.

„The council directed that the local government and chieftaincy affairs should strictly enforce the extant law of the House of Assembly, which mandates all principal officers of LGAs to reside within their jurisdictions.

„Approval was given for emergency intervention at Afia Nsit Village in Eket LGA, to stop the erosion and reconstruct the destroyed portion of the road.“