GOV. LIYEL IMOKE’S BUDGET OF TRANSITION; THE SIMPLIFIED VERSION

Gov. Liyel Imoke of Cross River on Friday night at about 10:44pm at the Cross River State of Assembly Chambers presented a budget of N149.4billion for the 2015 fiscal year to members of the Cross River House of Assembly.
The budget which is christened "budget of transition” commits
60 per cent to capital development
40 per cent to be used to service recurrent expenditure
While he stressed that economic sector would gulp 47 per cent of the budget.

Gov. Imoke maintained that the state hoped to achieve this projection by generating over N25.54billion from internal sources,
N43bilion from the federal account
and N80.84billion from capital receipts.

`` In this estimate, the recurrent expenditure of the budget is made up of the following, personal cost, N24.97billion,

overhead expenditure N16.18
and statutory expenditure N17.14’’, he said.

He said that Social Services received, N34.87billion, representing 23 per cent, Regional Development, N11.46billion, representing seven per cent,

and General Administration N32.81billion, representing 21 per cent.

``The economic sector has the highest allocation in the 2015 budget proposal. This is understandable as the sector is expected to stimulate the entire economy of the state and create jobs for our unemployed youths.
``The budget focus for the agricultural sector for 2015 would be on youth employment through value chain development, and using the sector to provide a source of livelihood to our women as well as wealth creation. 

``The budget for 2015 would put more emphasis on initiatives that target the rural poor and smallholder (women) farmers that contribute over 60 per cent to the agricultural sector in the State.
 ``My Government would ensure that women are well represented in any project embarked upon in the agricultural sector to increase the income earning potential of women engaged in the sector’’, he said.

According to him, government had provided N1.48billion to accomplish its agricultural programmes.
On Electrification, the Governor said that N2.55billion has been allocated to the sector in the 2015 fiscal year.
He promised to complete all projects initiated by his administration in 2015, including the Magaret Ekpo Airport by-pass, urban renewal projects in Calabar and others.

Also speaking,Speaker of the House, Mr Larry Odey, commended the Governor for his dynamic leadership and promised that the house would expedite action on the passage of the budget.