Akwa Ibom Assembly Passes N700b Appropriation Bill 2023

The Akwa Ibom State Assembly passed the State Appropriations Bill for 2023, which amounted to N700 billion.

The 700 billion naira is made up of 344,005 billion naira for recurrent expenditure and 355,995 billion naira for capital expenditure.

The proposed bill, which amounted to 0.4% of the size of the originally proposed budget, followed the report of the Hon. Uduak Odudoh-led House Committee on Finance and Appropriation.

The report recalls that Governor Udom Emmanuel, during the sitting of the House on Monday, November 7, 2022, presented his Budget Speech for consideration, adding that under Section 8, Rule 1(3) of the Standing Orders of the House, the Finance Bill 2023 is deemed read the first time.

After fruitful clause-by-clause deliberation in the Committee of the Whole and Appropriations, members unanimously accepted the report and the Appropriation Bill was subsequently passed.

The President, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey, who chaired the plenary, asked the Clerk of the House, Ms. Mandu Umoren, to convey the House's position to the Executive Governor for approval.

Furthermore, the House received a report on the amendment of the Standing Orders of the Akwa Ibom State Legislative Assembly (Sixth Edition).

The report was presented by the Chairman of the House Rules, Business, Ethics and Privileges Committee, Attorney Otobong Bob (Nsit Ubium).

The proposed amendment centered on opening prayers, members/officers/sitting of the House, organization of public affairs, and establishment and jurisdiction of House committees.