By Onwa Ekor
Cross River governor, Prince Bassey Otu, Tuesday, presented a total budget size of ₦780.59 billion for the 2026 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly.
Christened, “Budget of Inclusive Growth” Otu said, it is designed to consolidate on the gains of his administration’s People First philosophy while transcending bureaucratic ritual.
According to him, “it is a sacred social contract between government and the governed, a public declaration of collective intent to enhance the well-being of our people.”
Otu announced a shift in development assessment from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the Human Development Index (HDI), stressing that 2026 will focus on expanding access to education, health, and social protection.
Giving a breakdown, the governor explained that the ₦780.59 billion budget represents a 17 percent increase over 2025.
“We propose the sum of ₦519billion, 621million, 356thousand, 647naira, 84 kobo, representing 67 percent of the entire budget for capital expenditure, while ₦260.96billion representing 33 percent is earmarked for recurrent spending,” the governor said.
On the sectoral allocation, Otu disclosed that the economic sector will gulp ₦421 billion, social services, N163billion; general administration, ₦164 billion; while law and justice will gulp ₦28 billion and ₦3.6 billion will be allocated to regional development.
He also pointed out that the budget would strengthen the revenue base, drive human capital development, and secure a prosperous, peaceful, and resilient Cross River.
On how to generate funds to finance the economy, the governor listed States government shared allocation/FAAC, capital receipts, aids, grants, capital development funds, internally generated revenue, among others.
He added that: “The proposed budget is designed to build upon the foundation we have already laid through revenue strengthening mechanism, efficient resource mobilisation and improved service delivery.
“We have continued to prioritise capital expenditure over recurrent, this is a deliberate policy direction so as to align with our vision for robust healthcare delivery, agricultural revolution, educational development, social protection initiative, industrialisation and human capital development,” Otu explained.
