By Anayo Okoli
GOVERNOR Theodore Orji of Abia State Monday presented the 2011 budget proposal of N80, 244,414,540 billion to the state House of Assembly for consideration, with a promise that the 2011 revenue profile would witness remarkable increase.

The budget proposal, christened “Budget of Liberation,” shows an increase of 6.6% from the 2010 budget of N75, 299, 682, 580 billion.

Presenting the budget on the floor of the House, Governor Orji noted that the “philosophy and thrust of the budget is aimed at keying into the vision for economic development of the state through integrated, multi-sectoral grassroots development, predicated on enhancing the sustainable socio-economic well being of the people”.

On the strength of thrust, the Governor explained that the 2011 budget will focus on creation of a new Aba City that will still serve as the commercial and industrial masterpiece of the nation; sustain the security efforts of the administration to protect life and property; revamp ailing government-supported industries using PPP approach; and youth empowerment and job creation; boosting agricultural production, among others.

Governor Orji expressed the hope that with the successful war being waged against kidnapping in the state that the internally generated revenue of the state will increase in 2011. Specifically, he said that N10.5 billion of the budget will come from IGR.

He gave the recurrent estimate of the budget to stand at N69,991,120,400 billion, and the expected sources include N40.5 billion from Federation Account, N8 billion from VAT, N5 billion from Derivation and N6 billion from Excess Crude.

The capital expenditure stands at N35.161 billion. A breakdown of it shows that the economic sector has N11.3 billion, social sector N5.133 billion, region al developmentN4.241 billion and general administration N13, 95 billion.

Receiving the budget, the Speaker of the House, Chief Agwu U.Agwu commended the governor for the “well articulated 2011 state budget estimates”, and urged all the stakeholders involved in the implementation of the budget to implement it with “the zeal of taking Abia to a greater height”. He assured that the House would give the budget accelerated consideration.