Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, on Tuesday signed the 2016 Appropriation Bill into law.
Governor Ikpeazu assented to the law at the executive chambers of the Government House in Umuahia, southeast Nigeria.
He expressed optimism that Abia State would depend less on Federal Allocation with the fall in oil price in the global market, stressing that the people of the state must rise above others in driving the economy.
The Governor hinted that, with the resolution of the confusion between the Geometric Power Plant and the Enugu Distribution Company, the state would soon enjoy regular power supply which would encourage Small and Medium Enterprises and focus on infrastructural development.
The budget of 101.4 billion Naira tagged “Budget of Restoration through Enterprise”, is a figure that represents a decrease from the 2015 Budget of 102.4 billion Naira.
The 2016 budget expectation, made up of 59.2 billion Naira recurrent expenditure and 42.1 billion Naira capital expenses, was designed to deliver the much expected dividend of democracy.
The Governor had earlier sent to the House of Assembly for passage, a draft budget estimate of 96.7 billion Naira made up of 58.9 Naira recurrent expenditure and 37.7 Naira capital expenditure on December 31, 2015 which was amended by the House.
Presenting the appropriation law to the Governor for signing, the Speaker of the House, Honourable Martins Azubuike, stated that Internally Generated Revenue remained the option to the implementation of the year 2016 budget and that early passage of the appropriation law was key to the implementation of the budget.
He recommended the implementation of revenue generating laws which had earlier been passed by the House and the Abia Security Fund Law, the Abia Advertising and Signage Law, the Public, Private Partnership Initiative Law, Abia Quary and Dredging Site Law among others.
Mr Azubuike also urged the executive to ensure that taxable Abians were brought into the tax net by the Board of Internal Revenue, as a way of realising the budget and commended the Governor for his efforts at driving sustainable development in the state.
