The Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, has signed into law the state’s 2022 appropriation bill tagged ‘Budget of Conjugated Agglutination’.
Speaking on Friday during the signing ceremony held at the State Executive Council Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Calabar, Ayade said that the N354.55bn budget would ensure the take-off of most of industries established by his administration, with their products in the market.
He said, “Most of the industries we started have all been completed. This budget is, therefore, aimed at getting the products from these industries into the market in quick and agglutinated succession.
“Our administration was fully aware that a budget in a developing economy could not be an envelop budget because you budget to your dream, vision and aspiration.
“Any budget that is limited to what you can earn does not belong to the Third World developing economies. It is only the economy that has matured, stabilised and fermented that could have envelope budgeting.”
According to him, Cross River State “has a budget of N354.505 billion. This is not a small figure, but indeed it is still a small figure relative to the vision our administration envisioned for the state and is the last budget of a full year implementation.
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“So it is not so much about the size of your budget, but much more about the size of your ambition and your commitment. It is about the journey you set for yourself and how you want to arrive at your destination.”
Ayade lauded the Speaker,Eteng Williams, and members of the state House of Assembly for their diligence in passing the bill into law.
He said, “The figure is a major departure from the earlier figure presented to the House of Assembly for consideration. And the Speaker of the House has gone ahead to give strong reasons for the House’s adjustments to the original budget as then presented. That indeed, shows clearly that the legislature is alive to its responsibility as a clearing house.
“I want to sincerely thank the House for discovering some of the gaps in the budget. I must add that what the executive submitted, were estimates in the sense that the real power of appropriation lies with the House of Assembly. The oversight function of the House derives its power from the Appropriation law. And that law is the sole responsibility of the House.”
The governor said the government had to make a U-turn on privatising the industries because “there was a minority percent that felt strongly and backed up too, by evidential commitment why privatisation might not end well.”
