Punch, Sunday, 20 Dec 2009

The Governor of Cross River state, Mr. Liyel Imoke, on Friday finally appeared before the state’s house of assembly to propose over N111bn budget for 2010, lamenting that the state lost over N21bn to the controversial ceding of its 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom state. The Governor’s budget speech ended uncertainty and speculation that arose in the state following the manner in which the budget presentation was shifted twice.

While making the presentation before the lawmakers in Calabar, Imoke said the proposed amount represented an increase of 31 per cent compared to the revised 2009 Budget.
The government had in the heat of the oil well crisis carried out a downward review of the state’s 2009 Budget from over N107bn to a little above N85bn.
Out of the N111,774,357,795 budgeted for 2010, capital expenditure was pegged at N77,579,886,840 while recurrent expenditure was expected to gulp N34,194,470,955.
According to him, the budget was based on assumptions that the state’s inflows from the federation account would improve based on the rising trend of crude oil price in the international market and, that loans and grants already negotiated would be fully drawn down.

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