BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA —  GOVERNOR Theodore Orji of Abia State yesterday signed the 2014 budget of N115.3 billion into law.

Governor Orji had on December 30, 2013, presented a budget outlay of N149.6 billion to the State House of Assembly for the 2014 fiscal year but the lawmakers after assessing the budget, reduced and approved N115.3 billion.

Presenting the budget for signing, speaker of the House of Assembly, Chief Ude Okochukwu, explained that the budget was adjusted, following harmonization of policy thrust of MDAs with actual appropriation submitted to the House.

Okochukwu said the 2014 Appropriation law was carefully crafted in the context of medium term expenditure framework, which took cognizance of projections for years 2014 -2016.
The budget, he further explained, was in line with the state government’s determined efforts to ensure that the budget complied with International Public Sector Accounting   Standards, IPSAS.

According to him, the budget is expected to accelerate the completion of all on-going legacy projects in various sectors of the state’s economy as well expand the revenue base of the state.
He charged all implementing organs of government to strictly see to it that none of the budget’s approved provisions was circumvented.