RSHA Scores Wike High On Budget Speech

The Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA), has hailed the 2020 Appropriation Bill presented to it by Governor Nyesom Wike earlier this week describing the speech as reassuring and an entire development plan.
The House Committee Chairman on Information and Training, Enemi George stated this yesterday, when he appeared on a radio programme monitored by The Tide in Port Harcourt.
Hon. George, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation and lawmaker representing Asari/Toru Constituency 11 said the Governor’s budget speech focused on key areas that have been on the front burner.
“It is not just about me, I am just one person in the House representing people. But if you listened to the governor’s speech, you will see that it is very reassuring. You will see a component of an entire development plan that is very focused and key areas that have been on the front burner were emphasized upon.
“You see the governor talking about human capital development, agriculture, a huge chunk of the funds are proposed for agriculture education got about 20 per cent and it is the highest we have ever seen.
He mentioned employment which has also been an issue. So you see that this is a budget that gives a very positive outlook and every Rivers person should welcome it with open hands. We are very positive and forward thinking state. We always look where we are coming from, project deliberately where we want to be,” he stated.
On the performance of the 2019 budget, Hon. George said: “There was a slight budget performance shortfall in 2019. That is because of obvious macro economic reasons and so you see that before the governor says that okay we are looking forward and we are hoping the proposal (budget) for 2020, ofcourse you should know that plans have been put on ground to ensure that this is achieved.”
He further said steps have been put in place in the area of ease of doing business in the State, including effective Land Administration, justice administration and tax Administration, saying: “These areas have been heavily invested in by the Rivers State Government. So you see that business is looking up in Rivers State.
“You see that for the first time in the history of our state we have an almost perfect tax administration system that has professionals running it we have automated our tax administration system. We have automated our land administration system.
“So you see all of these are going to work together to improve our revenue. And because of the obvious reasons why we had a shortfall in the 2019 budget, the government is taking positive steps to ensure that those areas are looked at.
“You see that there was heavy reliance on federal allocation and the principal reason why the 2019 budget did not perform up to expectation was because of macro economic reasons,
”That is why we are taking step to begin to boost our agriculture, these are low hanging fruits that the government believes that if invested heavily in we will begin to see quick returns,” he stated.

By: Dennis Naku,Charity Opara & Hilda Okere