The Cross River House of Assembly on Thursday passed the state’s 2024 Appropriation Bill of N296.96 billion.

BRANDPOWER recalls that Gov. Bassey Otu presented the budget estimate of  N250.6 billion, christened “The People’s First Budget”, to the assembly on October 26.

BRANDPOWER reports that the estimate passed by the assembly was higher than the figure presented by the governor by over N46.4 billion .

The passage of the bill by the Cross River Assembly followed the presentation of the report of the  Committee on Finance and Appropriation by its Chairman, Hon. Cyril Omini, representing Yakurr 1 State Constituency.

Presenting the report, Omini commended the governor for his adherence to the provision of the State Public Finance Management Law.

According to him, the law provides that the governor shall not later than the last working day in the month of October of each year lay the annual estimates of revenue and expenditure of the state for the new financial year before the assembly.

The Speaker, Mr Elvert Ayambem, expressed appreciation to the members of the committee.

Ayambem also commended other lawmakers for their commitment and dedication toward the expeditious passage of the budget.

Earlier, the committee had an interface with various Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the defence of their estimates before presenting the report to the house.

BRANDPOWER reports that sectoral allocations of the budget includes economic N104.98 billion, general administration N95.8 billion.

Others include: Social N86.97 billion, Justice and Regional sectors N7.9 billion and N47.1 billion, respectively.