Obiano Presents N165 Billion 2015 Budget To Anambra Assembly

                                                                                    

        Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on 24th Nov  presented the sum of N165 billion to the state lawmakers for approval as the state budget for the 2015 fiscal year, representing an increase of 3.7 percent over the 2014 budget.

      Tagged “Budget of Wealth Creation and Social Cohesion” it is made up of capital estimate of N110.979 billion and recurrent estimate of N53.517 billion.

The governor said N1.8 billion was set aside in the budget for the pension scheme because the state government had starting from 2015 made the welfare of its work force a priorty.He said his administration had plans to strengthen the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, machinery for improved revenue generation and urged the state lawmakers to be ready to back the government’s plans by making the necessary laws.

      He expressed worry that the major source of the state revenue is allocation from the federation account which according to him forms about 65 percent of the government actual receipt, lamenting that the state in recent time had not been getting much from the federation account due to the combined effects of the insurgency in the North East geo-political zone of the country and the dwindling revenue from oil. There are strong signals that the situation would linger for most part of the coming year.

      Obiano told the lawmakers that as at October, his administration had implemented the current budget up to 46 percent and expressed optimism that before the end of the year, its implementation would hit 50 percent.He stated that his government would vigorously pursue agricultural revolution as from next year, pointing out that road construction and provision of other infrastructure in that sub-sector which would take a total of 48 percent of the capital expenditure estimate in the new budget would essentially be carried out in the agricultural zone of the state.

       He said agro-based investors would be encouraged to come into the state next year through provision of facilities, adding within the past seven months of his administration about US$500million investment in agriculture had been attracted into the state.The speaker of the state assembly, Princess Chinwe Nwaebili described the achievements of the Obiano-led administration in the state in the past seven months as unprecedented, saying they accounted for the cordial relationship both arms of government had enjoyed so far. She assured that the legislature would continue to work harmoniously with the executive arm of the government to ensure adequate provision of democracy dividends to the people of the state.The minority leader of the state assembly, Hon. Tony Muonago said the legislature would not constitute an obstacle to the state government’s efforts at moving the state forward.Via.Leadership Newspapers‎