Soludo presents revised 2021 budget to Anambra lawmakers

Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has presented a revised 2021 budget to the Anambra State House of Assembly.

The governor while presenting the revised budget on the floor of the Anambra State House of Assembly said his government hit the ground running as promised and remained committed to creating a liveable homeland for the Anambra people.

He said the revised budget was meant to meet the realities on ground and also help his government succeed.

“Mr. Speaker, Hon members! The purpose of the 2022 Revised budget is to reflect the current realities, challenges, and priorities of the new administration and Ndi Anambra.

“We are undaunted by the state of the treasury. We have seriously started reforming our system of tax administration to significantly ramp up our internally generated revenue over the coming years. In the meantime, the dire needs of Ndi Anambra and our transformation agenda cannot wait.

“We are working on a mixture of financing options (including debt that is ring-fenced to fund bankable projects and/or infrastructure with impacts on the economy) to guarantee efficient and effective service delivery to our people while ensuring fiscal sustainability over the medium to longer terms. The details of these will be laid out in our 2023 budget. ”

He gave the size of the revised budget as about N170 billion versus the existing appropriation of N142 billion (with the capital expenditure accounting for 64% compared to 57% previously).

“Capital expenditure increased by 33% from N81 billion to N108 billion while Recurrent expenditure increased marginally by 0.79% from N60 billion.

“We have declared a state of emergency on rebuilding our road infrastructure and traffic management. About N52 billion or about 31% of the total budget is for the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure and we intend to simultaneously invest in roads in most of the local governments, paying special attention to our urban regeneration agenda.

“We have requested the Federal Government to kindly intervene on an emergency basis on a number of federal roads in the state that have become nightmarish death traps. We confidently expect their urgent responsive action.”