The Anambra State House of Assembly on Friday passed the state 2022 Revised Appropriation Bill of N169.6 billion.
This is coming nearly 2 months after the state governor, Professor Charles Soludo sent the revised draft of the budget to the state legislature for consideration and subsequent passage.
The passage followed the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation during the plenary in Awka.
Presenting the report, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Obinna Emeneka, representing Anambra East Constituency, said that the revised budget was made up of N108 billion capital expenditure and N61.3 billion recurrent expenditure.
Key recommendations in the revised budget by the committee
Emeneka during the presentation said, “After thorough scrutiny and review, we recommend that the size of the 2022 revised budget be retained except for little adjustments in some Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs) allocation.
- “That the sum of N169,621,744,131 be approved for the service of the Anambra State Government for the year ending Dec. 31, 2022, and for related purposes.
- “The committee also recommends that subsequently, projects and contractors be specified and funds should be released to MDAs to ensure effective budget performance.’’
- The Speaker of the House, Mr Uche Okafor, commended the committee for thorough scrutiny of the budget and conducted a voice vote for the adoption of the report.
- The House passed the bill after the voice vote and the speaker directed the acting Clerk of the House, Mrs Esther Anaetoh, to send a copy of the bill to Soludo for his assent.
Soludo seeks approval for N100 billion loan
The speaker also read a letter from Governor Soludo dated July 5, where he sought approval from the state legislature to secure an N100 billion Global Limit Multiple Term Loan Facility for the construction and refurbishment of key infrastructure in the state.
The letter was referred to the House Committee on Public Accounts for consideration and report to the House on Thursday, July 21.
What you should know
- Recall that on May 19, 2022, Governor Soludo presented a revised draft budget of N170 billion for 2022 to the state House of Assembly for approval.
- The Assembly had on December 9, 2021, passed the 2022 Appropriation Bill of N141.9 billion, presented by the immediate past governor, Dr Willie Obiano, for approval.
- Soludo said the purpose of the 2022 revised budget was to reflect current realities, challenges, priorities of the new administration and the dire needs of residents in Anambra.
- He said that the budget was made up of N108 billion capital expenditure, accounting for 64% compared with 57% in the previous budget.
- The 2022 revised budget was N27.7 billion higher than the N141.9 billion budget initially approved for former Governor Willie Obiano.
- Also earlier in May, the Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Development Partners, Ms Chiamaka Nnake, during a press conference to give a breakdown of the revised budget announced that the sum of N68 billion out of the estimated N170 billion revised 2022 budget will be sourced from the capital market