The Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday passed the 2020 budget of N530,813,357,619 after members debated its highpoints at their plenary.
Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt Hon Ikuinyi Ibani posed the question for the passage of the budget which was unanimously approved by members of the Assembly who were present.
He said the passage of the 2020 budget will ensure the sustained development of the state from January to December. “The House has approved the 2020 budget of Rivers State. The clerk should liaise with the legal department to get a clean copy for presentation to the Rivers State Governor for his assent”, Ibani said.
He said that the House of Assembly worked on the budget to create the platform for immediate implementation. He said: “In undertaking this sacrifice, we want to ensure that our people from first January have access to the dividends of democracy and the government will hit the ground running .”
The 2020 budget has a total recurrent expenditure of N156,659,436569.00, while capital expenditure is N374,153,920,743.00.
Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike had presented the 2020 budget proposal to the State House of Assembly on 17th December, 2019. Governor Wike had said: “The capital expenditure for 2020 is estimated to be N374, 153,920,743.00, which constitutes nearly 70% of the total budget. The substantial increase in capital over recurrent expenditure, once again reflects and underscores our commitment to direct more resources to the growth and productive sectors of our economy.”
Governor Wike stated that the sum of N93,968,823,766.60 has been provided for the Ministry of Works to continue to fund the strategic road development programme for 2020.