Akwa Ibom Assembly Passes N423.3bn 2016 Appropriation Bill

SAN FRANCISCO, February 18, (THEWILL) – The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has passed the 2016 appropriation bill, which has a total expenditure estimate of N423.3 billion for the fiscal year.

Governor Udom Emmanuel had submitted the bill last December to the assembly with an estimation of N426 billion which was less than the 2015 estimate by 13 percent.

The 2016 appropriation bill, as approved by the House, puts the recurrent expenditure at N94.9 billion, while the capital expenditure is N243 billion and contains consolidated revenue fund charges of N85.3 billion.

According to the document, the assembly had reduced the capital expenditure of the state ministry of works from N95 billion to N91 billion.

Through the passage of the appropriations bill, the governor is authorised to approve monies from the consolidated and capital development fund for the development of the state.

Usoro Akpanusoh, chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, while submitting the committee’s report during plenary urged the executive to ensure total release of the funds approved for the internal revenue service, to help it generate more revenue for government programmes.

Akpanusoh further called on the state government to engage the services of limited liability companies in contract execution.

Story by David Oputah