By Adedapo Adesanya
The Governor of Abia State, Mr Alex Otti, has assented to the 2024 Appropriation Bill of N567.2 billion recently passed by the State House of Assembly with 84 per cent of the budget for capital expenditure while 16 per cent is for recurrent expenditure.
Speaking shortly after signing the bill into law on Thursday, Governor Otti said the budget would take Abia State out of underdevelopment to development.
“I want to say that this is a budget that would take Abia state out of underdevelopment to development,” he said.
“The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, this is the first step, once we get things right, and we know we will get them right, the next few years will be Uhuru for all our people, those living here and those who come from here and our friends,” he added.
Governor Otti noted that his government decided to devote 84 per cent of the entire budget to capital expenditure while 16 per cent is for recurrent expenditure.
“That we devoted 84 per cent of the budget to capital expenditure is not an error. If you go through the details of the budget, you will find out that every kobo we intend to borrow will go into infrastructure or be mapped out to infrastructure. Our discussions are on and we believe that as we require the funding, we will get them,” the governor added.
He maintained that every money borrowed to finance the budget would be channelled to capital expenditure. According to him, the budget will spur foreign and local investment, secure the state, and prepare it for the next level of development.
“So, it is a budget that would spur investment into the state both foreign and local, attract businesses, spur the large scale and medium businesses, secure the state, and prepare it for the next level of development,” Mr Otti said.
He then commended the Speaker and members of the State House of Assembly for a great job done which led to the expeditious passage of the bill.
On his part, the Speaker of the House, Mr Emmanuel Emeruwa, who the budget will touch the lives of Abia people positively.
According to him, the aim of passing the budget before the 31st of December this year is to ensure that the 2024 budget begins from the 1st of January next year.
