BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

PORT HARCOURT — Rivers State House of Assembly, yesterday, passed the N485.52 billion 2014 state budget, after Governor Rotimi Amaechi presented same to a plenary of the House convened at Government House, Port Harcourt, its first sitting since the July 2013 shut down of the House by the Police.

Presenting the budget proposals at the sitting, with the anti-Amaechi faction of the House conspicuously absent, the governor said the 2014 budget was being proposed after due consultation with relevant stakeholders within and outside the state public service.

The governor explained: “The focus of the budget will be on completing ongoing projects in the areas of health, education (with highest N30bn sector allocation), road, transport, power, water, agriculture and other critical infrastructure. The capital and recurrent provisions are N247.573bn and N237.95bn, respectively. Our capital to recurrent ratio is 51-49 for the fiscal year 2014.

“In 2013, the country lost substantial revenue because of oil theft and pipeline vandalism. Average production has been 2.3mbpd against 2.5mbpd projected in the 2013 budget. This affected revenue inflows. The projected budget revenues were not realised due to the significant production shortfall. With politics dominating in 2014, we are less likely to make progress in tracking oil theft. The expected dwindling of oil revenue is likely to affect the 2014 Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, allocation to the states, as the country may not meet its production targets in 2014.”

The funding of the budget, according to the governor, would come from sources, including expected federal allocation of N241.243 billionn, Internally Generated Revenue expected to climb from N80 billion in 2013 to N90.92 billion in the current year, a N100 billion proposed loans, and assets sales in excess of N35.500 billion and N9.984 billion credit from World Bank SEEFOR/Ministry of Water Resources.

Immediately after the governor’s exit, the House went into debate on the presented spending proposals, during which House members  expressed satisfaction with the appropriations as presented as well as the performance level of the last budget.

Following a voice vote in which all members present said ‘yes’ to its passage, Speaker of the House, Otelemaba Dan Amachree, closed the sitting on the budget with the declaration, “The 2014 Budget of N485.524 billion is hereby, approved and passed into law.”

PDP faction rejects budget

Meanwhile, factional leadership of Rivers State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which had warned against the sitting the previous day, has faulted and rejected the budget.

Chairman of the state PDP, Mr. Felix Obuah, said: “The presentation and passage of the 2014 budget of Rivers State outside the chambers of the state Assembly is criminal, illegal and cannot be allowed to stand. PDP will explore all legal means to stop the implementation of the controversial budget.”

Also, leader of the anti-Amaechi lawmakers in the state Assembly, Evans Bipi, rejected the state’s 2014 budget as presented and passed, yesterday, saying that the budget imposed no duty of responsibility on Rivers people.

Reacting to the voices of dissent on the matter, Deputy Speaker of the House, Leyii Kwanee, challenged any aggrieved person or group to go to court to express such grievances lawfully.