2013 Budget: Cross River Assembly Okays N152bn
SAN FRANCISCO, February 22, (THEWILL) - The Cross River State House of Assembly, Friday, approved a total sum of N152, 418,731,312 to be spent by the State Government in the 2013 fiscal year.
Out of the tota sum! the state expects the sum of N45,000,000,000 as revenue from federal sources with N25, 677, 468, 421 expected from internally generated revenue.
Other breakdown shows that the Government will spend the sum of N22, 282,682,802 as personnel cost; N13, 859,402,151 as overhead cost while N8, 628,606,813 is earmarked for statutory expenditure.
A further breakdown of the total budget shows that N25, 906, 776, 655 was captured as transfer from consolidated Revenue Fund, with N4, 500, 000, 000 as opening balance, N7, 077, 323, 160 as Value Added Tax (VAT) while loans and grants took N29, 556, 623, 879 and N10, 732, 181, 147 respectively.
Other proposed expenditure shows that N8, 167, 626, 732 was expected from excess crude oil account and the sum of N8, 322,7089,212 from the Joint State and Local Government Accounts while Capital Receipts was put at N13, 374,798,761.
However, in place of the proposed capital expenditure of N105, 808,530,304.75, the Assembly recommended the sum of N107, 648,039,545.57.
The altered Sectoral allocation shows the Economic Sector taking N68, 465,381,489.53, the Social Services has N17, 379,651,266.06 while Regional Development and General Administration taking N13, 335,313,573.44 respectively.
The general recommendations on major policy issues and project implementation as presented by the Chairman House Committee on Appropriation Rt. Hon Jacob Otu Enyia include resolutions calling on the Heads of Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Ministry of Justice to ensure that contractors who abandoned their contracts after payments should be prosecuted and blacklisted forthwith.
The Assembly also called on the Special Adviser, Office of the Governor to liaise with all relevant stakeholders and investors to produce the total cost of the Calabar International Convention Centre showing liabilities and obligations of all parties and forward same to the Assembly for information within 60days from the date of consideration and adoption of the report.
The Assembly further recommended that the Cross River Government through the Ministry of Justice should carry out a comprehensive review of all lease agreements involving the Obudu Ranch Resort, Marina Resort, Cultural Centre Complex, Botanical Garden and the Cable Car Service and the State electrification agency was requested to liaise with Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to reach an agreement towards activating all completed state electrification projects.
The Assembly also recommended that the State Planning Commission should develop a template to guide all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to formulate their developments/ regulatory framework before the end of the first quarter of 2013.
The Assembly also requested for a comprehensive authentication of traditional rulers nominal role, and an amendment of the state traditional rulers edict with a view to reversing their stipend, and review the edict in line with contemporary practices.
On traffic management, the Assembly urged Government to develop a strategy for the control and management of tricycles, construct trailer park and relocate the trailers mechanical workshop at the Odukpani-Ikom highway junction.