From Tony John, Port Harcourt

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has presented a budget estimate of N483, 173, 307,096.00 for 2022 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly for consideration.

He said the policy thrusts for the 2022 Appropriation Bill christened, “Budget of Consolidation,” would focus on the state’s quest for greater economic growth and fiscal consolidation, enhancing jobs and wealth creation, building first-rate economic infrastructure, and achieving equity and social protection through poverty reduction and economic inclusiveness. The governor, who gave the assurance while presenting the 2022 appropriation bill, yesterday, said his administration succeeded significantly in managing the resources of the state by building a strong economy in relative to most other states of the federation.

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According to him, real tangible growth figures were also posted consistently, which is in excess of five per cent year-in-year-out, especially for the last two years.

He said: “Within Nigeria, our economy is not only stronger than 90 per cent of the other states, it has continued to perform better than most others in terms of real economic growth, fiscal consolidation, debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio and Internal Revenue Generation. “The 2022 budget is crafted within the framework of the state’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework, the state’s Economic Strategy Paper, the national economic outlook and the state’s economic growth projections coupled with the various development instruments and programmes.”

Governor Wike said the projected recurrent expenditure is N144, 764,818,977.00 represents about 30 per cent of the total budget size for 2022 fiscal year. According to him, the projected estimates for capital expenditure is N314, 903,108,116.00, which represents about 65 per cent of the total budget size.