Abia State Governor Alex Otti gave the state House of Assembly a budget estimate of N567.2 billion for the fiscal year 2024 on Tuesday.
The money is designated as the “Budget of New Beginning.”
Otti said, “The 2024 budget proposal targets the expansion of our public infrastructure in line with our new development targets, scaling up access and quality service delivery in the social sector, with a special focus on education and health where we are proposing to commit more than 20 per cent and 15 per cent of the aggregate budget spending, respectively.
“The key distinction in the 2024 budget estimate, however, is in the direction of spending. While the 2023 projection allocated 53 per cent of the entire budget for capital expenditure, our target in the 2024 fiscal year is to spend 84 per cent of the total expenditure on capital projects and commit 16 per cent to recurrent expenditure, as against 47 per cent in the 2023 estimates.”
The governor announced his plan to finance the deficit of N401,162,378,914 in part by new borrowings estimated at N385,271,027,214. He said that about 50% of this borrowing will be sourced externally, and the remaining portion will be sourced locally. Regarding the proposed figure, the government’s estimated total revenue is N166,077,717,058, including earnings from IGR channels, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, grants from multilateral organizations, and income from other revenue sources.
He stated that all borrowing in the fiscal year 2024 would be limited to capital development projects that directly affect the state’s economy, particularly those involving roads, schools, and healthcare facilities. These projects’ medium- to long-term effects on the overall economy would produce enough returns to allow the state to easily meet its debt obligations to its creditors and eventually repay the loans.
Otti claimed he did a good job implementing the N160.5 billion budget for 2023 and projected that the state will do far better than the 60% budget implementation achieved in 2022.
“Today’s budget presentation is therefore significant in many ways. First, it is the first full-year budget by our government, deliberately structured to reflect the priorities of the administration on very important frontiers.
“Our goal is to consolidate on the modest gains made in the 2023 budget cycle, especially in the last six months,” he said.
Responding, the Speaker, Emmanuel Emeruwa, described the budget as “robust and capital intensive” and the first time in the history of the state that such amount is budgeted for, and “a robust move that will enhance the economy and every human life.”
He assured the governor that the House of Assembly will consider the bill favourably and with dispatch so that work will not be delayed and for people to see the change in the state.
