EXTRA: Ayade presents N276bn budget of ‘Conjugated Agglutination’

Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River, has presented the sum of N276 billion as 2022 appropriation bill to the state’s house of assembly. 

The budget tagged “Conjugated Agglutination” was presented on Friday. 

Agglutination is a biological term, which means the formation of clumps of cells or inert particles by specific antibodies to surface antigenic components (direct agglutination) or to antigenic components adsorbed or chemically coupled to red cells or inert particles (passive hemagglutination and passive agglutination, respectively).

In his budget speech, Ayade said N170 billion is for capital expenditure while N106 billion for recurrent expenditure.

Explaining the title of the budget, Ayade said “it is a cascade of so many projects, back to back, to ensure their completion. Putting all together to form a new envelop, that when it explodes you will see a new prosperity agenda.”

The budget is markedly different from the previous year, he said, because it focuses on the completion of ongoing projects such as the Obudu Cargo and passengers International Airport, Obudu British/Canadian International School, and the Odukpani Junction flyover ,among many others.

He said a provision will set aside between N30 million and N50 million monthly for the payment of gratuity for retired civil servants in the state.

He also said the budget will mirror projects aimed at “generating immediate income for the state and impact directly on the people”.

Since the inception of the Ayade government, titles of budget from the Cross Rivers government are usually subject of discussions in political terrains. 

In the following order, the state has had…

2016: Budget of Deep Vision 

2017: Budget of Infinite Transposition 

2018: Budget of Kinetic Crystallization 

2019: Budget of Quabalistic Densification 

2020: Budget of Olimpotic Meristemasis

2021: Budget of Blush and Bliss.