Tom Moses
8 November 2009
Calabar — The hand-over of 76 oil wells from Cross River state to Akwa-Ibom state last April by the federal government seems to have devastated the developmental plans of Senator Liyel Imoke, as the governor was Wednesday compelled to assent to the amendment of the state's Appropriation Bill of 2009.
Special Adviser, Budget, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr. Peter Oti said the amendment has led to trimming of the 2009 budget size from N107,021,984,521 to N85,225,563,671 reflecting 20.37 per cent drop.
"This means a reduction in Recurrent Expenditure from N37,747,118,144 to N36,772,112,168 or 2.58 percent and Capital Expenditure from N69,274,866,377 to N48,453,451,503 or 30 percent," Oti said.
According to him, the decision to revise the budget downward was as a result of the sharp drop in the inflow from the Federation Account.
The Special Adviser disclosed that the state's half-year performance report indicated a drop of 47 percent of inflow from federation account hence, the state's decision to evolve some strategies to cope with the hard times.
He listed such measures to include re-ordering of priorities, stepping up efforts in internal revenue generation and minimizing waste, stressing that "the system of budgeting which we have adopted is an appropriate tool to accomplish these desires and we are making the best use of it."
Oti therefore called on the business community and individuals to live up to their civic and social responsibilities by paying their taxes to enable government provide social services.
The Special Adviser, was however, optimistic that the reduction will not affect payment of personnel emolument and advised those in the employ of the state government not to express fears, just as he said that projects initiated by the state government would not experience delay due to the administration's commitment to good governance and service delivery.
He referred to the steps taken by the state as sad, worrisome and embarrassing because it happened at a time when some states were reviewing their budgets upward.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
