Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, yesterday, presented the 2018 Appropriation Bill of N510 billion to Rivers State House of Assembly for consideration and subsequent approval.
Christened “Budget of Consolidation, Advancement and Empowerment”, Governor Wike said the budget will consolidate and advance the state’s investments in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and security, as well as in growing the economy to create jobs and empower the people.
Presenting the budget proposal to the House, yesterday, the governor said the proposed 2018 Rivers State budget has N379, 997, 687, 404.00 as capital expenditure, while N132 billion is for recurrent expenditure.
He said: “This gives a capital to recurrent expenditure ratio of 75 to 25 percent respectively. The substantial increase in capital over recurrent expenditure, once again, underscores our commitment to direct substantial resources to the critical growth sectors of our economy.”
Wike said the 2018 budget will be funded from FAAC N40 billion; the 13 per cent oil minerals fund: N120 billion; VAT: N6 billion; Internally Generated Revenue: N132 billion; Reimbursements: N70 billion; Domestic/International Credits N70 billion and Capital receipts N20 billion.
On security, Wike said the state government will continue to invest heavily in the security of lives and property through the funding of security agencies and provision of logistics for them to effectively secure the state.
