Ebonyi State government says it has concluded all arrangements to access N50 billion loan from the Islamic Development Bank.
Recall that the loan had suffered setback as some prominent stakeholders in the All Progressive Congress, APC, had dragged Umahi to court to prevent him from accessing it, especially as the 2019 election approaches. But Umahi has now revealed that the management of the banks, African Development Bank, ADB and Islamic development Bank, ISB has agreed to release the fund to the state government to enable it embark on the reconstruction of ring roads that cut across eight local government areas of the state.
The Governor, through the commissioner of Finance, Obinna Nwachukwu made this known while briefing journalists during a budget breakdown, which took place at government house Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state.
He noted that the 2019 budget of 188.4 Billion naira will be funded through the aforementioned loan, which is 30%, Internally generated revenue, IGR, Value added tax, VAT and federal allocation.
Nwachukwu stressed that the 2019 budget was reviewed downward because the state accessed little above 100 billion naira from 208 billion naira budgeted for 2018, adding that the 2019 budget is geared towards meeting the economic reality of the state, especially as the election approaches.
The commissioner disclosed that 41.5 Billion naira of the budget will be used for recurrent expenditures while 146.8 billion naira will go into capital expenditures.
On the sectorial breakdown, the commissioner said the ministry of works and transport gets the highest fund of 54 billion naira representing 29 percent of the capital expenditures, which according to him will be used to finance transport infrastructures, including roads, bridges, in the state.
He noted further that a budgetary allocation of 23 billion naira was for the ministry of education to enable the ministry embark on renovation of schools and provision of desks.
Nwachukwu added that N6.7 billion was allocated to the ministry of lands and housing while other ministries; agriculture has 9.6billion naria, Power has 5.3 billion naria, water has 4.186 billion naria while Ministry of health has 15.6 billion naria.
The commissioner stated that the state government set aside six billion naira as stabilisation fund, which is meant for unforeseen expenditure that is not budgeted for.
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