Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State has signed the revised 2023 appropriation bill into law.
The revised appropriation bill has a total sum of N250, 781,015,661.
This indicates about N49 billion reduction from the initial budget of N330billion which was prepared by his predecessor, Professor Ben Ayade.
Governor Otu said the need to review the 2023 budget became expedient because of his government’s decision to work within a realistic financial framework of the state.
“Let me start by thanking the speaker and the house for the speed in passing this bill. One of the most difficult bills to pass in the legislature is the appropriation bill.
“It is the first bill I am signing into law in conformity with the People’s First agenda, collaborating with the House of Assembly we shall achieve the desired results.
“With the signing into law of this revised appropriation bill, Cross Riverians will start seeing the real dividends of democracy which will improve the fortunes of the state,” the governor said.
According to the governor, the essence of the downward review of the budget is to capture the true income indices and make the bill more realistic in line with current reality in Internally Generated Revenue as well as the monthly allocation from federation to the state.
Earlier, the speaker, Rt. Hon. Ayambem expressed gratitude to his colleagues for working assiduously to see that work on the budget was completed in record time.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
