Akwa Ibom Government has presented a budgetary
allocation of N462 billion for 2015 financial year to the
state House Of Assembly for deliberations and
approval.
This is against N498.54 billion approved for this fiscal
year made up of N74.24 billion for Recurrent
Expenditure, N333 billion for Capital Expenditure
while Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges was N91.30
billion.
A breakdown of 2015 budget tagged: Budget of
Actualization and Continuity shows that Recurrent
Expenditure is given N94.74 billion, Capital
Expenditure has N253 billion while Consolidated
Revenue Fund Charges is allocated N114.26 billion.
Chief Godswill Akpabio, who presented the budget
proposal Tuesday to the state House of Assembly in
Uyo, remarked, "The 2015 proposed budget seeks to
build on the successes and achievements recorded so
far. We intend to complete on-going projects and use
the budget proposals to build a strong bridge between
my administration and the incoming administration
such that the uncommon transformation, which we
have so energetically pursued, will be sustained, so
that our past labours will not be in vain.
"The budget would touch all sections of
infrastructures and security in the state. It will
develop strategic plans for the development of the
state, create more jobs for the teeming youths, the use
of direct labour and improved human capacity,
promote women empowerment and improve the
education standard of every Akwa Ibom child, among
others", he stated.
Commending the state House of Assembly for
supporting his administration, he remarked, "There is
nothing I can say here which can be more precious
than what you have done here. When the story of the
Uncommon Transformation of our state will be
properly documented on the petals of our history, it
would be noted that this House was the factory we
brought our ideas to incubation and production.
According to him, "It was here we gave our ideas
wings to fly. It was here that the bird of uncommon
transformation soared to heights of acclaim. As you
know it takes two wings to fly and the two wings in
this case were the Executive wing and the Legislative
wing. Akwa Ibom State appreciates your patriotism
and effective representation.
"Let me pay special tribute to the Hon. Speaker, Rt.
Hon. Sam Ikon and the leadership of this great House
for providing vision, purpose, direction and
motivation for developmental legislation in this
Chamber. We appreciate all members of this great
Assembly for lending their hands and souls to the
struggle to transform our state".
"The last seven and a half years have been times of
dramatic transformation and you have all risen to
every challenge of making our social fabric stronger,
our people healthier, our society safer and more
prosperous, and providing state-of-the-art
infrastructures for all Akwa Ibom people and foreign
investors who need superb investment destination",
Akpabio narrated.
Calling on the people of the state to always imbibe the
spirit of love, peace and unity, he remarked, " I have
taken every action to give the good people of our state
the tools and conditions to build a new Akwa Ibom
State founded on love, brotherhood and unity. I have
stayed on the course of values, which define the Akwa
Ibom promise, and we have sought to turn this state
into a veritable specimen of peace and development".
"Today we stand on Zion Hill. God has taken us across
turbulent seas and raging rivers. He has taken us
through the wilderness of decayed infrastructures and
into the land of our ancestors’ promises. But when the
children of Israel entered the Promised Land, their
travails did not stop. They had to fight the giants in
the land, and up till now they are still fighting for
their land. We must keep fighting the demons of
ethnicity and tribalism, to prove that we are worthy
of the uncommon transformation God has bequeathed
to us.
"Each generation will have something to fight against,
but for us we have three fights to embark upon today.
One, we must bury our differences and fight to
sustain the tempo of development encapsulated in the
uncommon transformation of our state. Two, we
must ensure that the ills of jealousy, hatred and envy
which constituted a clog in the wheels of our
development are never allowed to rear their heads
again in our land. Three, we must acknowledge that
the Akwa Ibom person has acquired a new status and
greater esteem in our country and we must fight to
maintain this new status in our country", he noted.
Governor Akpabio who called on every Akwa Ibom
person to see himself as a stakeholder in the state
projects, stressed that every Akwa Ibom person is a
shareholder with equal shares in the Akwa Ibom
dream, calling Akwa Ibom persons to see themselves
as the owners of the many infrastructures that his
administration has built in the last seven and a half
years, which hoped that some of them would be
completed.
He said his administration would have certainly done
more for the state but due to circumstances beyond
their control, disclosing that the original estimate was
N498.5 billion, but they realized N221.4 billion only –
about 44 percent, with a benchmark of 73 per barrel of
oil, while the production target was N2.5, which he
said was not met as a result of pipeline vandalisation
and oil theft.
Akpabio who hinted that his administration had
invested in the resources of the state on those
infrastructures and projects critical to the emergence
of a new Akwa Ibom ready to take up the role of a
major player in the nation’s political economy,
believed that prosperity is not a matter of luck,
neither is it a gift, stressing that the people of the
state must take their destinies in their own hands and
take decisions, which he said, would keep the society
prosperous and to keep flying and soaring in the orbit
of glory.
Source: Akwa Ibom Government House press release
No comments:
Post a Comment