By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Less than one month after Governor Chukwuma Soludo presented the 2023 estimated budget of Anambra State to the House of Assembly, the lawmakers passed the budget, to the tune of N259.9 billion.
The bill was passed on Tuesday, following the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation during plenary.
Nonso Okafor, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee during the passage said the capital expenditure was increased from the initial N164.2 billion to N164.4 billion based on the needs of the ministries, departments and agencies, representing 63.2 per cent of the budget.
Okafor said that the recurrent expenditure was N95.4 billion, representing 36.8 per cent.
“In carrying out the assignment given to the committee by this house, we organised and invited MDAs for bilateral discussions and thorough scrutiny of the 2023 Budget.
“We recommend that the budget size be retained except for little adjustments based on the needs of some ministries, departments and agencies.
“That the sum of N259,938,121,905 be approved for the service of the Anambra State government for the year ending, December 31, 2023, and for related purposes,” he said.
The Speaker of the House, Uchenna Okafor commended the committee for thorough scrutiny of the budget, while presiding over a voice vote for the adoption of the report.
The house passed the bill after the voice vote and the speaker directed the clerk, Mrs Esther Anaetoh, to send a copy of the bill to Gov. Soludo for his assent.
“I commend all the standing committees for carrying out their mandates as expected. We recognised the place of budget to accelerate and drive good governance in the state. We urge residents to continue to support Gov. Soludo’s administration,” he said.
The Speaker also announced that the House will hold a valedictory session on Dec. 8, for the Late Dr Nnamdi Okafor, Majority Leader of the House, who died on August 24 in South Africa.
