Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has presented a 2021 budget of N435.652 billion to the State House of Assembly for consideration.
Christened “Budget of Economic Reconstruction”, the State Chief Executive said the 2021 Budget is made up of N158.403 billion for Recurrent Expenditure, N226.964 billion for Capital Expenditure, and a Consolidated Revenue Fund Charge of N50.285 billion.
it is predicated on an oil benchmark of $40 per barrel at a production rate of 1.86 million barrels per day, with an estimated exchange rate of N379/US$, in line with the National Budget benchmark projections.
He noted that the total projected Recurrent Revenue for 2021 is estimated at N255.003 billion as against the approved revised provision of N203.556 billion for 2020.
According to him, the budget is N69.65 billion more than the N366bn revised budget of 2020 and is made up of N158.40 billion for recurrent expenditure, N226.96 billion for capital expenditure, and a consolidated revenue charge of N50.26 billion.
Total projected Recurrent Revenue for 2021 is estimated at N255.003 billion as against the approved revised provision of N203.556 billion for 2020.
A breakdown of the revenue showed that N36.30 would come from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), N36b from Statutory Allocation, N140b from Derivation Fund, N25b from Excess Crude, Exchange Gain augmentation and others, N1.71b from Parastatals while N16b would come from Value Added Tax (VAT)
Recurrent Expenditure, which is proposed at N208.688 billion, is made up of N56.54b for personnel cost, N101.86 for Overhead Costs including Social Benefits – Pension and Gratuity, and N50.29b for consolidated Revenue Fund Charges
The total Capital Receipts and Expenditure for the year 2021 is estimated at N226.964 billion as against the approved revised provision of N188.942 billion for 2020.
A total projected capital receipts showed that N46.315 billion will be transferred from the consolidated revenue fund, while the balance of N 180.649 billion is to be realized from Opening Balance from the 2020 account of N 27b, Internal Bank Loan of N40.04billion.
It would also include Grants of N 34b, Ecological Fund made up of N 2b.
Reimbursement from Federal Government on Road and other Infrastructure made up of N 15b, Investment Income of N 500 million, and other exceptional Income N61.5billion and Stabilization Account of one billion naira.
The sectoral allocation of the total budget showed that General Administration would gulp N100.02b, the Economic sector to take N267.56b, Law, and Justice to take N9.42b, Regional would take N1.24b while Social sector would gulp N57.42 billion.
While applauding the Assembly for living up to its responsibilities, Governor Emmanuel appealed for a speedy passage of the 2021 Budget to enable the current administration to deliver on its completion agenda.
In his remarks, Aniekan Bassey, speaker of the assembly lauded the Governor for giving a premium to education in the 2021 budget proposal, adding that the budget estimates when passed into law, will boost the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), to avoid over-dependence on federal allocation.
He said the House completely aligns with the Governor’s emphasis on aviation, security, healthcare, rural communities, and human capacity development and further expressed hope that the 2021 Budget will consolidate and improve on the performance of the 2020 Budget and deliver democratic dividends to the people.
He assured that the House would ensure the absolute performance of the 2021 Budget through oversights on Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and acknowledged the strides recorded by the current administration, particularly efforts in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing Police brutality in the state.
“As the People’s Assembly, we will ensure the absolute performance of the 2021 Budget through oversights on Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). We will ensure this because we want to continually be part of the success story of your administration,'” he said.
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