Gov Otu presents 2025 budget of N498 billion to Cross River assembly

Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State, on Tuesday, presented a budget proposal of N498 billion for the 2025 fiscal year to the Cross River House of Assembly.

Presenting the proposal to the lawmakers in Calabar, Mr Otu noted that the sum of N328 billion, representing about 68 per cent of the total budget size, was allocated to capital expenditure.

He said that the recurrent expenditure is N170 billion, representing about 34 per cent of the total budget.

According to him, the sectorial allocations are as follows: infrastructure, N100 billion; education, N81 billion; health, N25 billion; judiciary, N20 billion; House of Assembly, N18 billion; and aviation N16 billion.

Others are, Special duties/intergovernmental affairs, N15 billion; power, N14 billion; agriculture, N11 billion; tourism, 5 billion; science, technology/innovation N4.7 billion; Women Affairs, N3.7 billion; information, N3 billion, while others will gulp N181.6 billion.

Mr Otu said that the major revenue sources would be from federal allocations, grants from international organisations and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

He noted that the budget was benchmarked on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), goals nine, four, three, two and 16 to ensure the continuity of projects not completed in the current budget circle.

Reviewing the 2024 budget, Mr Otu said that the unfavourable economic climate in the country, occasioned by the devaluation of the naira for three consecutive times within one fiscal year, coupled with the floating of exchange rate, negatively impacted project implementation in the state.

“Consequently, the initial budget provision for specific projects needed to be increased owing to the built-in inflation.

“To maneuver this stormy economic situation, we had to scale down on a number of projects earmarked for implementation while prioritising very critical sectors that had direct impact on the citizenry,” he maintained.

The governor added that besides the huge debt burden of the state, the government had spent about N73 billion for debt servicing in 2024.

Earlier, Elvert Ayambem, the Speaker of the Cross River House of Assembly, commended the governor for his achievements in the state, including fixing roads and other infrastructures.

He, however, appealed for an improved power supply in the assembly to enable them to carry out their functions effectively.

(NAN)