Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has presented before the state House of Assembly a budget proposal of N330b for the 2023 fiscal year.
The governor said the budget christened ‘Budget of Quantum Infinitum’, was targeted at the citizens and to complete and commission all his projects.
He broke down the budget as follows, N130b for recurrent expenditure which is 39 percent of the budget and N200b for capital expenditure, which is 61 percent of the budget.
He said that the recurrent expenditure would accommodate the payment of salaries, gratuities and pensions and also cushion the effects of hardship and poverty in the state.
“For capital expenditure, we have budgeted a sum of N200 billion which represent 61 per cent of the budget estimate.
“The capital expenditure will provide for the completion of all the projects that are yet to be completed in the state.
“I wish to call on the Federal Government to support this budget and help us to complete our projects. Since the loss of Bakassi, the state has continued to suffer economic hardship.
This budget seeks to carry too many things given our commitment to sustaining the growth and development of the state,” he said.
He also said, “There’s a provision for grants, there’s a provision for conditional cash transfer, there’s a provision for social comfort just for the betterment of our people.
“There’s a provision for health insurance for those who are zero income earners. All of those massive aggregate provisions is to show that we focus on the people.
“In this budget, we have also made provision for conditional cash transfer of N5,000 to N10,000 to the rural dwellers. They need it the most because indeed we care about the people”
He revealed the sum of N5 billion was budgeted for security to provide vehicles and modern equipment for security agencies.
“Also in the budget, we have budgeted the sum of N18 billion for the aviation sector and the sum of N7 billion to provide solar electricity in the Calabar metropolis.”
Punch
