Akwa Ibom Assembly passes 2011 Budget outlay of N456.251B
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has passed a revised 2021 budget outlay of N456.251b made up of N164.515b as Recurrent Expenditure, N241.451b for Capital Expenditure and N50,285b allocated for Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges.
A statement by the Press Unit,
Office of the Speaker,
Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly,p indicated that the development formed part of the proceedings as the House resumed its plenary after a work recess of two months today.
Presenting the report, the Chairman, Finance and Appropriation Committee, Rt. Hon. Uduak Odudoh said in pursuant to Sec 14 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the relevant provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2004, his committee adopted participatory approach in its legislative budgetary process where MDAs, Non-Governmental Organisations and other relevant publics were invited to attend a Public Hearing on the budget on November 3, 2020.
According to the Committee’s report, the 2021 budget tagged, ‘ Budget of Economic Reconstruction,’ which is focused on the Completion Agenda and its augmentation of N20.599b from the initial provision of N435.652b gives a reviewed outlay of N456.251B for 2021 fiscal year.
The Committee also said the Recurrent Expenditure was reviewed upward by N6.112b from the initial N158.403b and Capital Expenditure by N14.487 from the initial N226.964b giving a rise to N20.599b (4.7%).
In its recommendations, the Committee said as a way of enhancing “Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Projects MDAs should, as much as practicable, award contracts to non-limited liability companies, since taxes on this category of companies are payable to the State Board of Internal Revenue as against limited liability companies that pay taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.”
After due legislative scrutiny in the Committee of Supply chaired by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey, the House passed the 2021 Budget into law and urged the Clerk of the House, Mrs. Mandu Umoren to communicate same to Governor Udom Emmanuel.
However, the commencement date of the 2021 Appropriation law is Jan 1,2021.
Meanwhile, the Speaker in his remarks, commended members for being dutiful and diligent to their legislative work throughout the recess period as they were always intermittently available when duty calls.
He wished his colleagues a smooth legislative year as they commenced activities for another legislative session.
