Soludo presents N410bn budget of ‘prosperous smart megacity’

Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, has presented the state’s budget of N410 billion for 2024.

The governor presented the budget estimate on Tuesday to the state house assembly in Awka.

Last year, the governor signed the N260 billion 2023 “budget of acceleration” into law.

At the time, Soludo said the signed budget would cover major pillars of the state such as security, law and order, social agenda, health, education, human capital development, power, technology, industrial parks, agriculture, and commerce will be simultaneously done. 

According to Soludo, the new budget for 2024 represents only about 57.8 percent increase in the present budget compared to the 2023 budget.

The governor said with the budget, the state is changing gears towards the promised transformation agenda for a liveable and prosperous smart megacity.

Giving a further breakdown of the budget, the governor said the recurrent expenditure accounts is N96.2 billion and the capital expenditure is N313.9 billion — indicating 77 percent of the entire budget is targeted at capital expenditure.

In July 2022, the state government signed a revised budget of N170 billion into law.

According to Soludo, the budget fell short of N250 billion estimates for building critical infrastructure in the state.

A revised budget means a budget through which major changes are made in respect of receipts or payments for which either no provision is available or the provision available is inadequate in the current year’s budget.