Uyo, Akwa Ibom State – Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, PhD, on Tuesday presented the 2025 Budget Proposals to the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.
Tagged “Budget of Consolidation and Expansion,” the proposal outlines the state government’s plans to consolidate on its achievements and expand its development agenda.
Governor Eno highlighted the administration’s achievements in the last 18 months, including the reconstruction of roads, provision of healthcare facilities, and promotion of agricultural development.
He also announced plans to increase the state’s internally generated revenue through the creative application of its moribund assets.
The governor emphasized the administration’s commitment to the welfare of civil servants, job creation, and economic prosperity.
He also highlighted the state government’s plans to promote accountability and transparency by ensuring compliance with Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement Laws.
The 2025 Budget Proposal is expected to be deliberated upon by the House of Assembly before its passage into law.
Below is the governor’s speech during the budget presentation
BEING THE ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PASTOR UMO ENO, PhD, GOVERNOR, AKWA IBOM STATE ON THE OCCASION OF PRESENTATION OF THE 2025 BUDGET PROPOSALS TO THE AKWA IBOM STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
PROTOCOL
1. Let me begin by thanking God for all He has seen us achieve in the course of the last eighteenth months. We thank Him for giving us the spirit of unity, of peace, of collaborations and of selfless service to our people, To Him alone be the glory!
2. Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members and other invited guests, we have come here today as the tradition demands and in fulfillment of the Constitutional requirement to present before you in this Hallowed Chambers, the Estimates of Expenditures for the year 2025.
3. Before I proceed further, permit me to thank you, Mr. Speaker and indeed all the Honourable members of this House for the wonderful spirit of cooperation we have received from you, since our people gave us the mandate to work for them, a little over eighteen months ago.
4. You have proven beyond any shadow of doubt, that we came to serve our people, and galvanize them to Arise, and collectively lift our State and our people to greater heights of growth, development, unity and love.
5. The 2025 Budget Estimates christened âBUDGET OF CONSOLIDATION AND EXPANSIONâ, that we are presenting to you today, is specific and encompasses every detail and plans each of the Ministries and Departmental Agencies are expected to implement.
6. For the first time in the history of budget preparations, we spent weeks with Members of the Enlarged EXCO and demanded of them a detailed, comprehensive and implementable estimates from their Ministries and Agencies. It went beyond the usual defense of their estimates before the Economics Development Ministry, without aligning such to specific areas of execution and implementation
7. So I am happy to announce that what we are presenting to you here for your kind consideration, contains specific projects that align with our Arise agenda, and aimed at scaling up the tempo of development, and moving higher the levers of growth of our dear State as encapsulated in the Arise agenda.
8. I want to thank the EXCO members, especially the Honorable Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Linus Nkan as well as that of Economic Development, Emem Bob, and the entire Budget Team led by the Director of Budget, Otu Asuquo for the painstaking work they have done here. That is the spirit we expect from all of us and itâs beautiful and encouraging.
9. Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members of this House, in the last eighteen months, because we, the Executive Arm, and the 8th Assembly have seen ourselves as partners, we have worked hard to translate the vision of our Governance Blueprint, The Arise Agenda, across all the key five areas which are: Agricultural Revolution, Rural Development, Infrastructural Maintenance and Expansion, Security Maintenance and of course Educational Advancement.
10. In just eighteen months, we have painstakingly followed through on our vision to ignite agricultural revolution and ensure food security for over people. To achieve the above, especially considering the current high cost of our staple food items, we declared every first and third Fridays of the month âFarm Free Daysâ so workers will return to the farm and plant the foods we eat. So far, this clarion call has been accepted by our people and we expect bountiful harvest next year.
11. We have flagged off the 2024 First Planting Season where improved cassava cuttings, maize seeds, pumpkin seeds, fertilizers and other farm inputs were distributed to farmers. Work is ongoing at the Ibom Model Farm. This farm project is a deliberate policy of government to treat agriculture as a business worth investing in. We have improve on the Songhai Farming Model and embed farming businesses, tourism, and hospitality Eco system in Ibom Model Farm. This will reposition the State for tourism, conferences and training hub for improved farming practices.
The Ibom Model farm, along with the work we are doing to resuscitate the St. Gabrielâs Coconut Oil Factory/Plantation and Dakaadda Global Oil Palm have attracted the attention of Multilateral agencies and the Federal Government seeking to partner with the State on this project. We would continue to be space setter in the agricultural value chains in the country.
12. Our commitment to rural development is total and comprehensive. Since our inauguration, we have worked hard to ensure that every local government has an ongoing project through our One Project Per Local Government Initiative.
Some of these projects include Model Primary Healthcare Centre, Model Primary Schools, roads and other impactful projects. Since the beginning of this month, we have been undertaking the commissioning of projects across local government areas. Time will fail me to repeat all those projects we have commissioned, but the fact remains that we are utilizing the resources of the State to get the most work done for our people, in line with our campaign promises.
13. We remain passionately committed to the maintenance and expansion of our infrastructure. As we speak, we have initiated 57 strategic and economically viable FGPC approved Arise Road projects, 11 Arise Direct Labour Road Projects, 37 FGPC Road Project we inherited and are still funding, 51 old Direct Labour Project we equally inherited, bringing a total of roads project currently executed in all the local government areas to 156.
14. Without going into details on these roads and other infrastructural projects, it bears repeating that we have initiated and completed the Atiku Abubakar Flood Control Tunnel, we have finished and commissioned the Udom Emmanuel Boulevard, formerly Airport Road, the Ekparakwa-Ntak Ibesit Road, in Oruk Anam Local Government Area, the Ikot Eyo- Edem Idim Okpot-Mbiekene-Nnung Obong-Ikot Ntung-East West Road, in Nsit Ubuim, the Ikot Obio Offong âEnen Nsit Road, the Mkpat Enin-Ikot Ubo Road-Ikot Ntot Road, the Urueffong-Utuku- Ibotong Road, in Urueffong Oruku Local Government Area, the Spring Road in Ikot Ekpene.
15. We completed and commissioned Ndiya Street at the Akpan Andem Market within the first 100 days of our administration in line with my campaign promise and more contracts are being awarded as the dry season is approaching. Last week, I had a meeting with all the contractors working for the State Government and advised them to seize the opportunity presented by the dry season to complete the works they have been awarded. We have mobilized them adequately and we expect to see corresponding work done by them.
16. Our State still enjoys the enviable status as one of the most peaceful and secure States in the Nation. Security is the first business of government and we take this obligation very seriously.
Apart from creating a stand-alone Ministry of Internal Security and Waterways, which we did few weeks after my inauguration, we have also created the Ibom Community Watch, which, working with the formal or institutionalized security agencies today provides men for crowd control and other strategic security tasks at the local or community levels.
17. We intend to offer employment to Six Thousand Youths drawn from all the 31 Local Government Areas through Ibom Community Watch. We have also provided 14 gunboats to the Joint Patrol Team headed by the Nigerian Navy as well as other vehicles to aid the Rapid Response Squad of the State Police Command. We have launched the Security Trust Fund and I want to use this opportunity to thank our Service Commanders for working with us to make our dear State safe, secure, peaceful and a destination of choice.
18. We remain committed to educational advancement as outlined in our Arise Agenda. Education still remains free from primary to secondary levels and we have kept our obligations in the payment of WAEC fees, subventions and other needs. Let me say here that feeding in boarding schools is the responsibility of parents. Government has set up an Investigative Panel to look into the recent incident involving Presbyterian Senior Science College, Idedip Ibiono Ibom. Going forward no principal should act as boarding master as well as being the principal. The government will not hesitate to shut down schools where such happens. Our model primary schools remain a marvel and in the new year, we will be commissioning a slew of these model primary schools. We want our pupils to receive instructions at the best environment possible so they may be better equipped mentally and academically for future educational pursuits. We have provided free uniforms, books and shoes for them as well
19. We have increased bursary from 10-20 thousand Naira for undergraduates studying general courses and 10-30 thousand Naira for those studying professional courses such as law, medicine, engineering, agriculture etc, We are also paying 250 thousand Naira per undergraduate student living with disabilities and 300 thousand Naira for postgraduate students studying professional courses. This amount is drawn from the 100 Million Naira Educational Grant we instituted for students living with disabilities. We recently approved 1.1 billion Naira oneâtime wardrobe allowance for teachers.
20. In the area of healthcare delivery service, we have commissioned model primary healthcare centers in Ikot Nkwo, Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government area, Odot, in Nsit Atai, Oboyo Ikot Ita, in Nsit Ibom. Works are over 90 percent completion with others in Urue Offong Oruko, Udung Uko, Ika and Etim Ekpo and the General Hospital in Ukanafun. We recently launched our Arise Care, the State Insurance Healthcare Scheme, and we will be enrolling nearly three thousand civil servants and some elders who need critical care free of charge. Ibom Specialist Hospital will be restructured as a stand-alone entity and the model of Ibom Air will be applied.
We hope to construct a Medical Village along the medical corridor- from Ibom Specialist Hospital to Ikot Ekpene. We will continue to conduct free medical outreaches for the most vulnerable. Recently, we received six ambulance trucks aimed at fast-tracking our healthcare delivery service and ensure real-time response to medical emergencies. We hope to increase the number to ten.
21. We have kept our obligations to Ibom Air and we will continue to support the airline that has painted our Stateâs colors brightly in the nations aviation space. Since we came in, we have received two Airbus A200-300 Series and a little over a month ago, we received two brand new CRJ 900 Bombardier Aircraft, all paid in full by the State Government, bringing the total fleet in Ibom Air to nine. The recent disbursement of an interest-free loan of N60 billion to the company is a testament of our belief that public finance can be deployed for commercial ventures based on global best practices. I am reliable informed that the company has return to profitability this year
22. We are working to commission the Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul (MRO) facility soon, while operations will commence at the International Terminal at the Victor Attah International Airport soon. We thank the Honourable Minster of Aviation, Barr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, and heads of other regulatory agencies for working with us to make the expected partial commencement of operations possible.
23. That informed our decision to flag off the ground- breaking for the Aviation Village we performed last week. That facility will provide accommodation and other recreationary facilities for workers who will help drive our vision as the aviation hub of the Gulf of Guinea and the associated ecosystem
24. In the Humanitarian or Poverty Alleviation and Social Investment Schemes, we have done extensive interventions here. We are committed to building 400 humanitarian homes before the end of our first term. To date, 42 of those home have already been completed and handed over to the beneficiaries, 95 are ready to be given out while work is ongoing on the remaining.
25. We continue to pay 50 thousand Naira monthly to our 600 selected elders across the 31 LGA under our Arise Initiative for the elderly and this has helped them take care of their immediate needs.
26. Through the Bulk Purchase Agency, we have been providing free food vouchers to the most vulnerable and we followed through on this, by directly distributing the food items to the people to ensure strict adherence to transparency.
Two forty-foot distribution trucks were purchased for this purpose. This, however, is purely an intervention; the practical solution remains the return to farming by our people, which thankfully, they have embraced.
27. To date, we have paid over 37 billion Naira out of 85.2 billion we met when we came in, as gratuities to retired civil servants, local government and teachers in the State. We are committed to liquidating all the backlog of gratuities in line with our campaign promises. We have also kept most of our obligations and agreements with the Organized Labour, leading to the seamless and smooth labour-government relations we have enjoyed since we came in. We will pay the minimum wage after the current verification exercise is completed. In the meantime we will pay the 13th month’s salary popularly known as âEno-mberâ. The Arise Employment Portal has been launched and jobs for our teeming youths will be harvested from that portal and I am encouraged by what I have heard so far. We would set up the State Labour Committee to liaise with our contractors and other entities operating from our State, to utilize the portal to recruit our people for various job opportunities they may offer.
28. We remain dedicated to growing Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as the engine of economic growth. The Bank of Industry (BoI) has established its branch here for the first time and we are providing a deposit of 2 billion Naira to ensure our traders, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs borrow funds at single digits
⢠The 2 billion Naira loan earlier granted to traders who have stalls in the market is now a grant.
â˘We further provided 200 Million Naira each to Arewa, Yoruba, Igbo and Niger Delta traders who have stalls in the market as well making a total of 800 Million Naira.
⢠We have trained over 1,200 budding entrepreneurs (Four Hundred Female Youths who would be given N500 Naira each plus 250 training fees through the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Programmer (EAP) run by Ibom Leadership and Entrepreneurial Development Centre (Ibom-LED). The process of the payment of the first set of beneficiaries of the Arise Business Support Schemes to our youths are ongoing and they will be paid soon.
⢠Six thousand youths are to be engaged by the Ibom Community Watch and a further one thousand youths are to be trained at the Dakkada Skills Acquisition Centre (DASAC). Two hundred of the youths are currently in training at the centre with 20 thousand Naira training fees paid to each of the trainees.
29. We are committed to increasing our internally generating revenue through the creative application of our moribund assets. Recently, we performed the ground- breaking ceremony for the construction of an 18-Storey Ibom Towers which upon completion, will signal our arrival in the bullish Lagos real estate market. We will continue to recover our moribund assets and put them to commercial use.
We are also concluding plans to construct a Four -Star Ibom Hotels in Abuja- all these will in the long run earn us solid returns on investment. As the world is looking beyond oil, we too, must make plans to think ahead and survive without oil
30.We have undertaken a detailed technical audit of operations of Ibom Plant and are presently reviewing the recommendations of the report for implementation. There would be a major restructuring of the organization and operations of the plant. We have identified some operational risks including gas supply security, equipment availability and due inspections for which a program is being developed. There are challenges that we are detailing on a phased basis. The financials will be subject of some subsequent future engagement.
31.We have conducted a comprehensive feasibility study on Ibom Deep Seaport where onside Geo technical and Geo physical environmental scoping, Port design options etc has been undertaken. With the completion of the report, the Akwa Ibom State Government as project sponsor will proceed to the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) state which is crucial step in the planning of complex engineering projects. We have also open up access road to the facility.
32. Tourism is a big focal point in the Arise Agenda, and come December, we will be opening a section of our audacious all-inclusive mega tourism project Arise Park. The Park sits on a former gulley-hesion-ravaged ravine off Etim Umana and Dominic Utuk Avenues respectively, and today, it is a marvel to behold and a testament to vision and creativity. We will be opening the childrenâs play ground and the golf course before the end of the year.
The âChristmas Unpluggedâ will commence next week and we will be hosting the world to a month-long happy hours of cultural renaissance and reawakening. It promises to be a wonderful time for our people to relax and engage ourselves in an atmosphere of love and togetherness. Godswill Obot Akpabio remains the choice for major football events organized by CAF and FIFA respectively and we remain poised to keep maintaining the facilities at the stadium.
We have done so much in the last eighteen months that time will fail me if we were to detail all of them here. The Chief Press Secretary, working with the SSA Research and Documentation, and other media team members, will produce a Coffee Table Special Publication which will outline and document in full details, all that we have achieved across sectors and distribute them everywhere in the State, churches, Supermarkets, hospitals, Hotels and as inserts in local newspapers. This will be done on a bi-monthly basis, so we may keep updating our people on how the resources of the State are being utilized.
THE POLICY THRUST AND OBJECTIVES OF THE AKS 2025 BUDGET POLICY THRUST
33. The Policy Thrust of the 2025 Budget will be anchored on the ARISE Agenda of the present Administration.
34. THE POLICY OBJECTIVES OF THE 2025 BUDGET
The Policy Objectives of the 2025 Budget include:
a. Achievement of food security through investing heavily in the agricultural revolution.
b. Rural development through robust investments in modern living facilities such as all seasonal roads, rural electrification, primary healthcare facilities, schools, markets, recreational facilities and so on, within rural communities to ultimately improve the quality of life for those in the rural areas and help stem rural-urban migration.
c. Consolidation on, maintenance and advancement of world-class infrastructure that the State has come to be known for nationally; and complete those that were started by previous administration, which time did not permit to be completed and commissioned.
d. Ensuring that public schools in the State are equipped and staffed by teachers who are passionate and dedicated.
e. Ensuring that citizens continue to live in peace and that the sanctity of human life would be protected through security management.
f. Prioritization of the welfare of civil servants and encourage a spirit of entrepreneurship in line with the ARISE Agenda.
g. Creating jobs for citizens and enlarge the path for economic prosperity.
h. Expanding and improving infrastructure and services in health-care delivery at primary and secondary levels to safeguard the state against public health emergencies.
i. Promoting accountability and transparency by ensuring compliance with Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement Laws.
j.
