Proposed Govt. House project, not in 2024 budget, but … – Commissioner
The proposed Government House project which Governor Alex Otti says would commence before the end of this year was not included in the 2024 budget of Abia State, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr Kingsley Anosike, has said.
The Commissioner who spoke at a news briefing after the State’s Executive Council meeting last Monday, also said that with positive indices recorded in the Second Quarter (Q2) Budget Performance Report, the state may not likely go for supplementary budgeting but would rather approach the legislature for virement, to accommodate projects like the Government House project hitherto not in he original budget.
Last Saturday, Governor Otti hinted in Arochukwu that he was going to demolish the current Government House on Library Avenue and erect a befitting, new one.
At the commissioning of the renovated Arochukwu Council secretariat, Governor Otti said: “Today, l am not operating from the Government House in Umuahia because there is no Government House. Everywhere is dilapidated and decayed….
“I am proud to report that before the end of this year, we are going to break down those dilapidated buildings and we’ll put up structures that are befitting for a people who are enlightened like Abia people,” he added.
Asked if the project was captured in the 2024 Abia State budget, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning answered in the negative but explained how the project would be incorporated in the budget.
Anosike said: “Your question was whether the new building His Excellency announced that he was going to build this year is in the 2024 budget.
“We have a 2024 budget that is running and that specific project was not captured within that generic project. However, we are in the process of concluding what we call virement in budget terms, that is a review that happens every half year , or so, when that government has identified new projects or trying to adapt to new policy changes that was not provided for in the initial budget. That project will be included in the review.”
Giving highlights of the Q2 budget performance report, the Commissioner said that the state, as at the end of June 2024, has spentN108.9 billion. “On recurrent expenditure, so far we are on 29.9 of full year plan as at the end of June. In terms of capital expenditure, we have done about 17.3 percent of our full year plan. Overall, we have about N108.9 billion in terms of expenditure which is a collaboration of recurrent and capital expenditure,” the Commissioner said.
On how the government was faring in terms of making revenue, he said: “When you talk about revenue, there are three headlines: Aids and Grants, Statutory Revenue and Internally-Generated Revenue (or Independent Revenue).
Let me just highlight how the state is trending on these headlines. On Aids and Grants, as at the close of business in June, the state has met 94 percent of its full year plan. This tells you that the state is trending very well. Donors are very happy with Abia and for the first time, we have unsolicited donations from around the world who assist in different programmes in the state.
“Full year plan under this headline was N16 billion as at the end of June, the state has met 94.5 percent of the earning.
“The other headline is statutory revenue. As at the end of June, the state has earned about 83 percent of its full year plan which also means that this envelop has also improved significantly and the third which is within the state control fully is the Independent Revenue (or IGR). The full year plan for the state IGR, according to our budget estimate for 2024, is about N32 billion.
As at the end of June, the state has realized N15.5 billion which is about 44 percent of our annual plan. So, that is where we are on revenue.”
The Commissioner explained that the essence of publishing the budget performance report was to deepen good governance and give the public room to hold government accountable.
“You realize that when this administration took over the reins of governance, it said it was going to be very open and transparent in administering the state funds. The only way this will allow the public to hold government accountable is for the government to periodically publish the state finances in a way that everybody can access it, look at it and provide comments.
This government has consistently done this without fail at the end of every quarter since inception and Q2 2024 is no exception,” he said.
Asked if the state was likely to go for supplementary budget, the Commissioner was favourably disposed to going to seek the approval of the House of Assembly for virement.
“W e call it virement. It is virement because for full year, we have a total envelop of N567 billion. The government, as at today, would want to retain that envelop without expanding it. What this means is that by half year, we are looking at those projects that we thought will kick off earlier but have not kicked off; we are looking at provisions that were made to cover these projects and we are also looking at new projects that we did not anticipate that are now going to become active for the remaining half of the year. So, we are going to move money around our capital revenue to cover this cost. So, we are going to do what we call virement and not supplementary.”
Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okay Kanu, who announced that the Q2 report could be accessed on the state government’s official website: www.abiastate.gov.ng, noted that the release of the Q2 Budget Report was one of the requirements of good governance.
