Rivers 2018 Budget Scales First Reading

The Rivers State House of Assembly last week gave the 2018 budget the first stage of approval after the first reading on the floor.
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani said the Assembly would give the budget an expeditious attention in line with due process.
Ibani stressed that accountability and transparency remain major drivers in the Assembly’s deliberations, as he commended the State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike for showing commitment towards galvanising the state to greater heights.
He said: “The Assembly will continue to give government support. It’s not a solitary journey. It’s every- body’s journey”.
He continued: “As an Assembly in 2018, we have a focus in conjunction with other arms of government so that at the end of the tenure, we will count our blessings”.
Earlier in his budget speech, the State Governor enumerated the success achieved in last year’s budget and thanked the state Assembly for always giving support in driving state policies and programmes.
Wike said though the administration is two and halve years, “we have made and will continue to do our best, at a time of economic recession.”
He called on all arms of government to close ranks, team up towards moving the state forward in order to achieve set goals.
Wike had earlier read the 2018 budget estimates put at N510 billion with a higher capital expenditure of N379 billion, recurrent was put at N132 billion.
He disclosed that the budget would be driven by federal allocation Value Added Tax, Oil Mineral Producing Tax, Internal Revenue and Capital Receipts put at N70 billion.