The Chairman of Bakassi Local Government Council, Chief Iyadim Amboni Iyadim weekend, presented an appropriation bill of Nine Billion, Six Hundred and Twenty Seven Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty Nine Thousand and Thirty Naira only for the 2021 fiscal year.
Presenting the budget to Bakassi Legislative Council, weekend, Hon. Iyadim disclosed that the economic outlook of the budget is predicted on the global economic trend as the vision of the council is to transform the area to world class standard through innovative leadership, transparency, accountability and people’s oriented services that will aligned to the diverse population, natural setting and community needs.
He stated that, “consequent upon the global economic challenge and the destruction of property during the ENDSARS protest which affected Bakassi Local Government Area, the estimated total revenue receipts as well as expenditure has been raised to N9, 627,839,030.00 representing about 186% increase from last year’s budget.
Explaining further, the chairman stressed that out of the proposed budget, N 4,061,588,211.00 will be expended directly by the council while N 1,771,672,882.00 is be spent on recurrent services. Adding that N2,289,915,329.00 will be for capital, N906,250,819.00 for Statutory Transfers and N4,660,000,000 will go for special projects.
According to Iyadim, the source of the budget includes opening balance N19,153,741.00, internally generated revenue (IGR) N48,966,012.00, state statutory allocation N1,500,000,000.00, federal statutory allocation N1, 936,139,682.00, value added tax N624,138,567.00, miscellaneous N392,840,385.00, loans N106,550,000.00 and grants N5,000,000,000.00.
The Chairman maintained that, “We are budgeting for three years and we intend to put measures in place that will not derail the budget and plans”, hinting that, ” to achieve this, the council intends to grow its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) annually by 150%, achieve 50% infrastructural needs of communities in 2023, achieve 50% improvement in health care delivery by 2023, reduce the population of unskilled manpower to 20% by 2023 and achieve 80% in agricultural output”.
Iyadim emphasis that in order to achieve these objectives, the council intends to carry out; “proper allocation of scarce resources for the benefit of Bakassi people, effective utilization of human, financial and material resources in order to reduce poverty, create wealth and ensure peaceful coexistence, key into state government plans and programs as well as encourage private sector participation in the Council’s developmental programs”.
Responding, the Leader of Bakassi Legislative Council, Pastor Emmanuel Michael Effiong, appreciated the efforts of executive arm and assured that the sixth assembly will speedily deliberate effectively on the document and ensure that it uphold what will bring succour to the people of Bakassi particularly the displaced while assuring the executive of their cooperation to ensure its plans are fruitfully executed.
