Akwa lbom State Government slices up budget on annual celebrations
Akwa Ibom State Government has reduced her projected expenditures on annual celebrations for the 2021 fiscal year.
A check into the Akwa Ibom State 2021 proposed budget shows that the State Government has lowered her projected expenditures on Week-long celebration of Akwa Ibom State creation Anniversary and the Hosting and Coordination of Special events in the State, including Democracy day.
The proposed budget for Week-long celebration of Akwa Ibom State creation Anniversary in 2021 is N100 million.
This is four times reduction of the N400 million which is the approved revised provision in 2020.
In 2019, according to the Akwa Ibom State Accountant General Audited Financial Statement, this item alone gulped N320 million in expenditure.
This was higher than the aggregate Capital expenditures made in State Universal Basic Education Board (N45.2 Million), State Technical Schools Board (N48.1 million), State Secondary Education Board (N30 million), Akwa Ibom State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (N75 million), Bureau of Rural Development and Cooperatives (N49.5 Million) and Ministry of Science and Technology (N50 million).
For Hosting and Coordination of Special events in the State including Democracy day, the State has reduced the budget from N150 million in 2020 to N40 million in 2021. The State had however spent N20 million for this item in 2019.
The reduction it is gathered stems from the envisaged low-key celebrations in line with COVID-19 protocol.
