The Akwa Ibom State Appropriation Bill for the 2024 fiscal year, christened “ARISE Budget for Growth and Expansion,” has received executive assent.
The budget with a size of N849.970 billion earlier passed into law by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly reflects an augmentation of N4.3 billion from the original sum of N845.632 billion presented by the Governor on the floor of the Legislature on November 21, 2023.
Assenting to the bill during an expanded State Executive Council meeting held at the Executive Council Chambers, Government House, Uyo, the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, harped on the need to pay greater attention to revenue generation in the 2024 fiscal year.
He commended the State Legislature for their painstaking consideration of the bill and working in sync with relevant departments of the Executive Arm to ensure thoroughness and timely passage, while soliciting more of such collaboration in the coming year with the ultimate goal of delivering on the ARISE Agenda of his administration.
“In signing this budget today, my priority will be revenue. How do we get to bring in the revenue? Because there is no point in having a budget this big when the revenue is not commensurate.
Related: AKS MDAs to take 2.5% out of Revenues Generated
“If you review what happened last year, we had the budget too and in previous years, but revenue is always the issue. So while we sign this budget to show that we have approval, I think what will be most important for all of us is to make sure that we meet the revenue target to help us expend,” he stated.
Governor Eno said his administration was putting a lot in place to raise the internally generated revenue and urged the Ministry of Finance, Internal Revenue Service, Ethical and Attitudinal Reorientation Commission (EARCOM), and other agencies to step up efforts in mobilising revenue for easy funding of the budget, affirming that the State GIS will soon be operational to enhance the tax net.
