By Onwa Ekor, Calabar
Capital expenditure would gulp N328 billion, representing about 66 percent of the total budget size of N498 billion, proposed for 2025 fiscal year.
Cross River governor, Prince Bassey Otu, disclosed this while presenting the 2025 appropriation bill tagged, “Budget of Sustainable Growth,” to the State House of Assembly, in Calabar.
According to Otu, the recurrent expenditure has N170 billion, representing about 34 percent of the total budget, which revenue sources would be funded through federal allocation, grants from international organizations and internally generated revenue.
A breakdown of the sectoral allocations the governor explained, would see Infrastructure gulping N100 billion, Education N81 billion, Health N25 billion, Judiciary N20 billion and House of Assembly N18 billion.
Others, the governor mentioned were, Aviation N16 billion, Special duties/ intergovernmental affairs N15 billion, Power N14 billion, Agriculture N11 billion and Tourism N5 billion.
Science technology and innovation would gulp N4.7 billion, Women Affairs N3.7 billion, Information N3 billion, while others would take N181.6 billion.
“The 2025 budget just like that of 2024,” Otu remarked, “is benchmarked on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guarantee continuity of projects and programmes which are to be completed in this current budget circle hence, the need to roll over to the 2025 fiscal year.”
He noted that emphasis would be placed on SDG 2, Zero hunger; SDG 3, Good health and wellbeing; SDG 4, Quality education; SDG 9, Industry, innovation and infrastructure; as well as SDG 16, Peace, justice and strong institution.
Aware that the provision of relevant infrastructural facilities remain the foundation for sustainable economic growth, the governor said, government would continue to construct roads, bridges and rail lines support facilities, besides the existing industries with accompanied employment potentials that would also be reactivated.
“In addition to the forgoing, our administration is intentional in creating partnership that works with private sector, to drive out state industrial revolution.
“This informed the unprecedented budgetary allocation of a N100 billion to the sector,” Otu said.
On education, he intimated that with the present literary rate of 80.03 percent, his administration is targeting a 98 percent rate by the end of the tenure.
“We shall continue with the free and compulsory education from primary to the junior secondary level and the paying of WAEC fees for students in our public schools.
“Technical education would be given priority attention so as to produce job creating graduates rather than job seekers,” the governor added.
On health, Otu assured that primary to tertiary health care delivery would be pursued with renewed aggression to reduce mortality rate of the people especially infants and pregnant mothers, adding that, the provisions of medical equipment and consumables would be his administration’s focus in 2025.
Admitting that there would be no food security without agriculture, the governor explained that measures were in top gear for the purchase of farming equipment, provisions of single digits interest loans and grants, continuation of the free distribution of improved palm seedlings and the resuscitation of ailing cottage industries, among others.
Reasoning that justice for all is a bigger aspiration of every citizen of the state, a development which can only be realized through the strengthening of the judiciary, Otu informed that judicial offices, course and property would be offered the needed attention which this arm of government deserves, in the proposed budget.
“The burden of justification of the huge interest and concern this administration places on this arm of government rest squarely on them, we therefore expect the judiciary to meet the earliest expectation of the citizenry,” the governor said, maintaining that, “these expected reforms of course, should be across board.”
Otu further explained that his administration remains one that operates on strict financial prudence, a development which saw Cross River ranking the ninth position out of 36 states of the federation in the 2023 fiscal performance ranking.
“These indices,” the governor remarked, “have gone to confirm that development is not a linear achievement rather a multidimensional process where our progress is not measured solely by economic indicators but various dimensions interconnected to contribute to the overall wellbeing of our citizenry.”
