Gov. Ikpeazu signs Abia’s N101.4b budget

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Tuesday signed the 2016 appropriation bill of N101.4 billion, made up of N59.2 billion recurrent expenditure and N42.1 billion capital expenses.
Speaking in Umuahia while assenting to the bill, Ikpeazu thanked Abia State House of Assembly for doing a good job.
He said the executive arm of the state government had enjoyed the cooperation of the legislature and judiciary since the inception of the current administration.
Ikpeazu said “dependence on allocation from the Federal Government should begin to recede to the background”.
He said Abia State people should strive to tap the abundant mineral and human resources for the development of the state.
He said: “With the resolution of the misunderstanding between the Geometric Power Plant and the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Abia will soon become a major centre of economic activity”.
Ikpeazu said he was committed to making Abia State a safe haven for investors, stressing that his government would do everything possible to implement the budget appropriately.
The Speaker of the assembly, Martins Azubuike, said Internally Generated Revenue remained another viable option to implement the budget.
Azubuike remarked that early passage of the appropriation law was one of the keys to the successful implementation of the budget.
He said: “The implementation of revenue generating laws, which have earlier been passed by the House, included the Abia security fund law, the Abia advertising and signage law.”
He said bringing “taxable Abians into the tax net by the Board of Internal revenue are ways of realising the budget”.
Azubuike commended Ikpeazu for his efforts at driving the attainment of sustainable development in the state.
The governor had earlier sent to the House for passage a draft budget estimate of N96.7 billion made up of N58.9 billion recurrent expenditure and N37.7 billion capital expenditure on Dec. 31, 2015, which was amended by the House.
NAN.