“Without sufficient funding, the 2024 budget estimates, just like those of the previous years, will perform below average.” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
The Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has presented the 2024 budget to Anambra State House of Assembly. The Budget which was presented on Tuesday during plenary is the biggest budget by size, to ever be presented to Anambra State House of Assembly by any governor of the state. With a budget size of about N410.3 billion, the 2024 Anambra State budget is easily more than twice as big as the budgets of previous years throughout the history of the state.
For Governor Soludo who is in his twentieth month as Executive Governor of Anambra State, this would be his third budget, however, his second full-year budget. Upon assumption of office in March 2022, the governor presented a revised 2022 budget. It was considered and approved by the House of Assembly. Then, in November 2022, the governor presented his first full-year budget for the year 2023. With the presentation of the 2024 budget, Governor Soludo’s government has only two full-year budgets to present before the end of his first tenure as governor of the state. In other words, the governor has only two more chances to continue to strengthen his pact with the Anambra people, as the budget remains the most critical way of communicating a government’s commitment to its declared objectives, programmes, and projects for the people.
A cursory look at the budget shows that with a budget size of N410.3 billion, there is a deficit of about N120 billion which the governor hinted would be financed through borrowing for purposes of developing infrastructure in the state. Although the budget had pegged expected disbursement from the Federal Government at N50 billion, for the year 2023. However, federal allocations to Anambra State in 2023 stood at about N41 billion. The budget had also projected a revenue of about N40 billion which the state is expecting to generate about N4 billion monthly in 2024, but in 2023, the State was only able to generate about N2 billion every month internally. Anambra State also expects to generate 13% derivative from its oil-producing state status. More than N8 billion is expected to accrue to the state from this source. It is unclear what the state has been getting from this 13% derivative, of which the current administration is the first beneficiary. Looking at these projections, it is apparent when weighed against the reality of 2023 financial year, that the State would be requiring more than the budget deficit of N120 billion in funding, if the budget is going to perform excellently or even fairly.
In his opening remark, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze, said that from reports of the various committees, that it is obvious that road construction is ongoing in every part of the State. “Report by House members show that road construction is ongoing in all parts of the state,” the Speaker said. While calling on everyone, irrespective of political affiliation, to join hands and build Anambra, the speaker further assured the governor of an accelerated passage of the budget. “We will expedite action on the budget to meet the development expectations of the people,” Udeze said.
For the Governor, some of the highlights of his address include his appeal to Anambra State indigenes and residents that the state needs resources to properly function and satisfactorily meet the expectations of the governed. The governor also observed that a sharp increase in budget size is due to increased allocation in some critical sectors and sub-sectors of the economy within the state. This includes an increase in the health sector, education sector, judiciary, and legislature, among others. The governor, Prof Soludo further reemphasized his administration’s commitment to road construction, in which instance the government has awarded over 400 kilometers of road. Some areas of critical importance to the governor which he addressed in his speech are tax reforms and digitization, as well as youth empowerment, especially with relevant ICT skills. More so, Governor Soludo declared that Anambra would soon have a Government House and Governor’s Lodge. “We are about to break a 32 year old jinx. Anambra will soon have a befitting Government House and Governor’s Lodge,” the governor declared. Coming short of going on to give his administration’s scorecard, Governor Soludo promised to do a compressive scorecard of his administration in March 2024, when his government clocks two years.
The Anambra State 2024 budget presented by Soludo was read and passed for the first time and this was followed by a closing remark by Hon. Ejike Okechukwu, the House member representing Anaocha II constituency. After which motion for adjournment was moved by the Majority Leader, Hon. Ikenna Ofodeme, and seconded by the Minority Leader, Hon. Johnbosco Akaegbobi.
In the final analysis, every budget is a compendium of expected income and expected expenditure. Generally, the spending power of a government is limited to resource availability. Therefore, without funding or sufficient funding, the 2024 budget estimates, just like those of the previous years, will perform below average. The governor was clear on this when he emphasized that “we need resources,” while calling for indigenes and residents to commit even a fraction of their wealth to public good within the state.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
