Ayade presents 2017 budget of N301B to House of Assembly

Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade Monday presented the 2017 Appropriation Bill of N301 Billion to the state House of Assembly.

Christened “Budget of Infinite Transposition”, the budget, according to the governor, seeks to achieve three cardinal objectives of “improving and expanding infrastructure through Public Private Partnership, planting the ‘tree’ of the state’s future revenue generation and gradual industrialization of the state.”

A breakdown of the budget shows that N81,142,339,895.32 is allocated for recurrent expenditure while N220,060,873,053.48 is allocated for capital expenditure.

The recurrent expenditure therefore, represents 24.8 per cent of the budget while the capital expenditure represents 75.2 per cent of the budget estimate.

The governor informed the assembly that it was the desire of his administration in 2017 “to focus on the superhighway because it is the main energy that will open up the vista of opportunities for prosperity. Indeed, it is the secret game changer and our deep seaport has gotten to advanced stage in terms of approval.”

Ayade, who described the size of the appropriation bill as ambitious, said he was optimistic that it can be achieved because “when there is cash deficiency, the intellect takes over.”

He said the state intends to fund the budget from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Statutory Allocation, Capital Receipts and Projected Investor Revenue from Direct Foreign Investments.

According to the estimate, N81,142,339,895,32 is expected to be generated through IGR, N41,676,220,113.64 from statutory allocation, 76,070,524,023.85 from donor agencies, 38,474,892,065.29 from the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery Fund and 63,839,236,850.70 from revenue from investments.