Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly passes N456.2B Appropriation Bill for 2021 Fiscal year

 Williams Akpabio - AKHA (Aide) Uyo

Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly passes 2021 Appropriation Bill.

The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has today passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill worth N456.251 billion, thus indicating an increase of 4.7% from the sum of N435.652 billion that the state governor had earlier presented. 

The approval of the appropriation bill is sequel to a report presented by the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Rt. Hon. Uduak Odudo, member representing Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo State Constituency to the lawmakers during the plenary in Uyo.

This was immediately followed by a motion for third reading and passage of the bill raised by the leader of the house Rt Hon. (Sir) Udo Kieran Akpan, member representing Oruk Anam State Constituency and seconded by the Deputy Leader Rt. Hon. Aniefiok Dennis, member representing Oruk Anam State Constituency.

The motion was unanimously adopted through a voice vote put through by the Speaker Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey. The Speaker commended Gov. Udom Emmanuel for the performance of 2020 State budget, which he said according to the Accountant General of the state and Commissioner of Finance as at September, 2020 during the budget appraisal that the actual collection for year 2020 recurrent expenditure was N146.699 billion which is about 96.1% achievement  and N84.05 billion (59.3%) performance drawn for capital expenditure. He further directed the Clerk of the House Mrs Mandu Umoren to communicate the house resolution to the state Governor. 

It could be recalled that Gov. Udom iEmmanuel on October 20th, 2020 presented Akwa Ibom State Appropriation Bill, 2021 to the State legislature. the draft estimate, with the budget size of N435.652billion christened “Budget of Economic Reconstruction.” aimed to continue the actualization process for the Completion Agenda of his Administration, which is hinged basically on achieving rapid industrialization of this State. 

Commenting on the appropriation bill, Rt. Hon. Odudo said that the 2021 budget is prepared in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) -Accural Template. This is a Comprehensive package that classifies transactions into Revenue, Expenditure, Assets and Liabilities, thus aiding effective and efficient financial analysis.

He added that the committee in compliance with section 14 of the 1999 constituttion of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), and the relevant provisions of the Fiscal Responsibly Act, 2004, the Committee adopted the participatory approach in it's legislative budgetary process. According to him, the aim of the public hearing was to give the people an opportunity to contribute inputs that would help in the Economic Reconstruction of the state and that valuable inputs on the Bill were received from the participants and same were received from the participants and same were collated for consideration during the budgetary process.

Moreso, the committee in line with the legislative practice also conducted Budget Defence with MDAs on the policy thrust of their establishments, the level of implementation and challenges faced, in the course of implementing the 2020 budget as well as presenting the 2021 budget proposals.

However, the appropriation bill passed to law is  N20.598billion (4.7%) higher than the proposed budget and amounts to N456.251billion against the approved revised provision of N366.000 of 2020.

The sum of N164.515 billion is budgeted for recurrent expenditure, while the sum of N241.451 billion is meant for capital expenditure and N50,285 billion for Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges. 

In a brief interview, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Rt Hon. Aniefiok Dennis and member representing Etinan State Constituency remarked that the budget as an affirmative reminder of the government’s effort to shore up productivity and to propel the state economy on the path of growth.