A 21-storey skyscraper, a 10,000-sitting capacity Cathedral and completion of the second Runway at Ibom International Airport are some of the major highlights of Akwa Ibom State government 2018 budget.
Presenting a budgetary outlay of N651.500 billion for 2018 financial year Friday to Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly for approval, Governor Udom Emmanuel stated that the scrapper to be built by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc would be sited at old Uyo main market and the cathedral, the first of its kind would be built in Uyo.
Emmanuel said the government would complete the 35 kilometres super highway in Ibaka, engage and other the projects that would help to drive the socio-economic activities of the state.
The sum of N165.708 billion is the difference of the N165.500 billion budgeted for next financial year against the revised N485.792 billion approved for 2017.
A breakdown shows that Recurrent Expenditure has N92.697; Capital Expenditure is given N437.674 billion and Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges is allocated N120.859 billion.
He announced that the total projected Recurrent Revenue for 2018 is put at N289 billion agaist the approved revised provision of N188.500 billion for 2017.
The governor explained that N35. 496 billion will accrue from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), N25 billion from Statutory Allocation, N200.800 billion from Derivation Fund, N2.504 billion from Retained Revenue from Parastatals, N12 billion from Value Added Tax while N13.200 billion is expected from Budget Support.
Earlier, the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Onofiok Luke had said the 2017 budget has given birth to massive development projects in the state including a boom in the agricultural and industrialisation sectors of the government.
Luke specifically mentioned the harvest of tomatoes in large quantity and the inauguration of Metering Company and Syringe Manufacturing Company, among others as some of the investment drivers that would introduce the state to the international market.
He expressed hope that next year’s budget would greatly actualise the vision of Superior Performance of the present administration and called for cooperation and support from all the stakeholders in the successful implementation of the budget.
