Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has said that the N1.3 trillion budget estimate for 2018 presented to the state House of Assembly is an ambitious budget designed and tailored to fit the state’s dream.
The governor disclosed that the2018 appropriation bill is not enveloped by the state’s purchasing power and capacity, saying it is a budget that crystallises the depth of his administration’s vision into action. “It is meant to draw the prospective investors to our state,” he stated. He said that rather than the envelope budget, he opted for the kinetic budget that allows room for intellectual capacity.
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The governor had last Thursday presented a budget estimate of N1.3trillion for the 2018 fiscal year to the Cross River State House of Assembly, the highest in the history of the state.
In the budget, which he christened ‘budget of kinetic crystallisation’, the governor said the budget would be funded from internally generated revenue (IGR), statutory allocation., capital receipt, projected investors’ revenue, especially from the Bakassi Deep Seaport and the 274km superhighway.
The governor explained that the size of the budget is meant to create room for warehousing of capital investors’ funds now that the actual construction of key projects of the administration has commenced. The budget speech, which was not made available to journalists, for the second year, was read at the floor of the Assembly Chambers.
MIKE ABANG, Calabar
