The Cross River State House of Assembly has approved a N642 billion supplementary budget for the 2025 fiscal year, representing a 26% increase over the original N538 billion “Budget of Sustainable Growth” passed on December 24, 2024.
The lawmakers said the approval was driven by Governor Bassey Otu’s commitment to accelerating infrastructural development across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.
Presenting the report of the Finance and Appropriation Committee on Tuesday, Chairman Okon Owuna explained that the supplementary budget became necessary to cater for new obligations, emergency spending, and recently approved strategic programmes that were not captured in the original budget.
He said the improved outlook from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), internal grants, and allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) had created the fiscal space to introduce additional expenditure across critical sectors, including Administration, Economic, Law and Justice, Regional, and Social services.
Owuna commended the state government for adhering to constitutional provisions in seeking supplementary budget approval, noting that previous administrations often opted for downward reviews of budgets rather than passing a Supplementary Appropriation Law.
Speaker Elvert Ayambem, in his remarks, assured that the supplementary budget would directly impact the welfare of citizens, stressing that all local government areas had been captured in the planned projects aimed at transforming the state’s socio-economic landscape.
Punch
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