By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The 2017 appropriation bill of Cross River State has been signed into law by the state Governor, Mr Ben Ayade.
The N707 billion budget was passed using a 3-year Medium Term Expenditure Frame work.
The actual 2017 budget, which was pegged at N301 billion, also incorporates an additional N306 billion to cater for capital projects spanning 2017, 2018, and 2019 fiscal years.
The title of the budget is ‘Budget of Infinite Transposition.’
Speaking on the extended budget, Mr Ayade explained that, “It is a budget that has an infinity clause, which stretches beyond 2017.
According to him, “The budget saves us the agony of continuous planning and re-strategising.”
“The energy that is expected to characterise 2017 budget is to drive the very core of the needs of our people, which therefore defines the ambition and the level of weight that has got the State into an epoch budget of N707 billion.”
While justifying the adoption of the new budgetary strategy, the Governor stated that, “The economic situation we find ourselves as a nation requires us to carry out such huge thinking and heavy planning.”
“So, the budget strategy we have adopted is to focus on all our investments at this particular time, from the garment factory to the pharmaceutical, rice city, the cocoa processing facility and other huge investment with short gestation period; bearing in mind the huge inflows that would decoupled us from federation allocation,” the Governor stated.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya