The Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, has presented an Appropriation Bill of N276 billion for the 2022 fiscal year before the state House of Assembly.
While presenting the bill which he christened ‘Budget of Conjugated Agglutination’, before the state lawmakers, Ayade said the budget proposal was among other things, designed mainly to attend to existing projects across the state.
Ayade told the lawmakers that from the entire budget size N106 billion is earmarked for recurrent expenditure, and N170 billion is earmarked for capital expenditure.
The governor said the budget was named Conjugated Agglutination because “it is a cascade of so many projects back-to-back to ensure their completion; putting all together to form a new envelope, that when it explodes you will see a new prosperity agenda.”
The governor said the budget estimate which is the lowest fashioned by his administration since 2020 has as its focus the completion of projects such as the Obudu Cargo and Passengers International Airport, British/Canadian International School, Obudu; and Odukpani Junction Flyover.
The governor said aspects of expenditure such as regular payment of salaries, gratuities and pensions were adequately catered for in the appropriation bill.
Ayade who said the state was going through financial difficulties disclosed that his administration intends to set aside between N30 million-N50 million monthly for payment of gratuities.
Ayade said he wished every retiree would get their gratuity and pension because aging is a reality of life.
The governor, therefore, appealed to the lawmakers to cooperate with the executive arm of government and grant the appropriation bill speedy and seamless passage.
During the budget presentation, it was observed that no Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker, only 25 All Progressives Congress (APC) members attended the budget presentation by the governor.