By Musa Yaro, Calabar
The Cross River state governor, Bassey Otu, Thursday, signed the revised 2023 appropriation bill into law in the realization of his people’s first agenda.
The appropriation bill has a total N250,781,015,661, a downward review from the previous budget size of N330 billion.
Speaking at the event, Otu said the need to review the 2023 budget became expedient because his government decided 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 Otu, 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 the current reality in Internally Generated Revenue as well as the monthly allocation from the federation to the state.
Earlier, the speaker, Elvert Ayambem expressed gratitude to his colleagues for working assiduously to see that work on the budget was completed in record time.
According to the speaker, the budget was reviewed downward to enable the government to work with the state’s income revenue.
“It is the most realistic budget in time past, the bill was reviewed in light of the state’s financial income, and the people of Cross River will be happy with the size of this budget.
“The legislative bottlenecks were observed and all due processes strictly followed and I assure you that the executive now has a good ground to take off,” the Speaker said.
Assuring the governor of a harmonious working synergy between the legislature and the executive, the speaker also remarked, “I want to assure you of the cooperation and collaboration of the House of Assembly in providing good governance to our dear state.”
It would be recalled that the 2023 appropriation bill which was signed by the immediate past administration had a total of N330 billion.
