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… Passes 2020 budget into law
Raymond Ozoji, Awka
The Anambra State House of Assembly at the weekend ended budget bilateral discussions with ministries, departments, parastatals and agencies of government in Anambra state.
The House also passed the 2020 budget appropriations into law to enable the executive arm to commence actual implementation and utilisation of funds for projects captured in the estimate.
The state assembly therefore charged the MDAs to ensure that they fulfilled the contents and provisions contained in their budget implementation plans for the year 2020 to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the citizenry.
The chairman committee on finance and appropriations, Hon. Obinna Chris Emeneka, while briefing newsmen at the state assembly complex Awka, said that the committees had met and interacted with the MDAs and were equally satisfied with the defense of their individual budgets even though the lawmakers made some observations which the MDAs promised to accord speedy attention.
Emeneka said that the legislature would intensify oversight duties to ensure that funds appropriated in the budget were utilised judiciously to make the budget more realistic and result-oriented.
He however expressed satisfaction on the budget performance of the current fiscal year, noting that with the ongoing road construction and rehabilitation works across the state, it is expected that the 2019 budget will hit the target of 85% implementation by December this year even though he expressed optimism that the 2020 budget may record 90% performance, all things being equal.
Emeneka also said that the delays associated with the release of funds for projects were addressed in the course of the interactions especially as there was a significant reduction in the 2020 budget estimate, pointing out that the state government allocated more funds to capital expenditures because of the quantum of infrastructural development projects government would embark on in the next fiscal year.
The lawmaker said it was important that the MDAs adhered strictly to their implementation plans to enable the legislature to carry out its constitutional mandate of oversight functions to avoid negations and unaccounted resources, noting that the role of the legislature was to ensure that the 2020 draft estimates as presented by the state governor becomes a reality devoid of white elephants.
