Governor Alex Otti presentating the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly, Tuesday
Otti presents N750 bn 2025 Appropriation Bill to Abia Assembly
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State government has proposed a budget outlay of N750, 282, 200, 000.00 (N750. 2 billion) for its services in the 2025 fiscal year.
The 2025 budget estimate christened Sustaining The Momentum”, laid before the Abia State House of Assembly by Governor Alex Otti, on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, represents about 30 percent increase in the 2024 budgetary outlay of N523 billion.
In the 2025 Appropriation Bill, Governor Otti told the state lawmakers that N611.7 billion, (representing 82 percent of the entire budget outlay, would be channelled into Capital Projects, while N138.6 billion (representing 18 percent of the 2025 total envelope, has been proposed for Recurrent Expenditures. This would cover Personnel Cost, Social Benefits, Overhead Costs and Debt Servicing.
On Income generation, the Governor said that state hopes collect N100.6 billion from the State’s internally generated revenue (IGR), representing 213 percent; N183.4 billion from Statutory Allocation, representing 96 percent rise and N25.5 billion from Grants with 55 percent increase.
He said that Value Added Tax (VAT) was expected to yield N55. 1 billion, an increase of 35 percent increase based on the 2024 figure. “We shall finance the balance of N364.1 billion, representing about 51 percent of the total envelope through borrowing from domestic and multilateral channels. I may have to add at this point, as I did last year, that we shall not borrow a penny to finance recurrent expenditures. All borrowing shall happen only when absolutely necessary and shall be deployed for the execution of projects that will ultimately repay the loans,” he said.
He made it clear that the present administration has not borrowed any kobo since it came to power.
On the breakdown of the 2025 Expenditure, Governor Otti said: “Looking at the figures for 2024, we are raising the size of the proposed Capital Expenditure for 2025 by 29 percent, while the outlay for Recurrent Expenditure is raised by about 34 percent.”
He said that N13 billion has been earmarked for the setting up of agro-industrial processing zones in three local government areas, namely Bende, Ukwa and Umunneochi. “These projects shall signpost our game plan for the agricultural sector and the commitment to leverage agriculture to drive important economic outcomes such as job creation, wealth generation and foreign currency denominated receipts,” the Governor explained.
According to him, N55 billion has been proposed for various on-going and new road projects cut across the 17 LGAs in the 2025 financial year.
“The combined outlay for the sector will be used to pay for the construction of bridges and new roads, and the reconstruction and maintenance of existing road infrastructure in the urban and rural communities, and similar project undertakings by the State Ministry of Works,” he added.
The Governor listed some of the landmark road projects captured in the 2025 estimate to include the Umuikaa-Umune-Omoba Road, Owerrinta-Umuikaa Road, Ohanze Ntighauzo-Abala Ibeme Akirikaobu Road, Mbala-Umuaku-Ngodo Road, Omuma Road with spur to Old Express, amongst others.
He further explained that provision has been made for the construction of 170 kilometres of rural roads across the 17 LGAs of the State, with a target of 10 kilometres per local government.
“In Umuahia, we have made provisions for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of several road projects including the Umueze-agwu-Mbom, Nkata-Amaeke, Ahiaekeokwuta-Bende, Agbo-Umueze, Umueze Mbom, Umuoji, Umuafai-Lodu-Ahiaeke, Amauzukwu-Mbom Roads, and others,” he specified.
The Governor told the lawmakers that he looked forward to completing many signature road projects of his administration in the first quarter of the New Year. These projects are Port Harcourt Road Aba, Umuahia-Uzuakoli road, Ndi Okereke – Arochukwu Road and others.
Governor Otti said that N4 billion outlay would deployed to revamping and reticulation of 47-kilometre pipeline for the Umuahia Regional Water Scheme for the provision of potable water to residential homes and communities in the State.
According to the Government, government has dedicated an estimate of 35 percent of the budgetary outlay to health and education sectors, with 15 percent of the entire envelope going to the health sector. Projects listed for execution in the health sector include rehabilitation and supply of equipment to four general hospitals across the State for N13 billion, purchase of medical equipment for various health facilities will gulp N9 billion, while N8.6 billion would be channelled into the construction of the permanent site of the Abia State College of Health Science and Management Technology Aba, as well as N5 billion that would be used for construction projects at the new College of Nursing Sciences at Umunneato General Hospital. Also, another N3 billion wwould be pumped into the construction of classroom blocks at the School of Nursing and Midwifery Amachara.
In the Education sector, Secondary Education would get 14.63 percent while tertiary education would receive 5.42 percent.
Therefore, the Governor said that in keeping with the determination of his Administration to make the learning environment safe for the pupils and their teachers, N29.5 billion has been earmarked for construction of perimeter fencing in 262 schools across the State to ward off criminals and marauders away from the schools and also curb the menace of appropriation of school land by unscrupulous individuals.
Furthermore, Governor Otti said that N14. 6 billion has been captured in the 2025 draft budget for construction of reading rooms and libraries across the 184 wards in the State. “This initiative is projected to revive the reading culture and encourage our people to discover the treasure in books,” he said.
Also, the Governor revealed that a total of N18.9 billion has been earmarked for social benefits in the 2025 fiscal year. “We shall use this sum to cater for the most economically vulnerable groups in our communities, providing structured support to individuals and families in great need as we work to build a society where no one or group is left behind,” he explained.
He noted that “the draft of 2025 budget has been comprehensively put together to capture the most important development priorities of our people,” adding that that “this budget has been prepared with the active input of Abians who participated at the various citizens’ engagement sessions put together by the State Ministry of Budget and Planning to share their expectations as individuals and groups.”
Governor Otti expressed happiness that the cordial relationship between the State Legislature and the Executive has facilitated the enormous progress recorded by the present administration in transforming the state and urged the lawmakers to give the budget accelerated consideration and passage.
