Anambra State Govenor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo on Tuesday presented a total of N607 billion as budget estimate for 2025 fiscal year.
Titled “Changing Gears 2.0, with emphasis on acceleration and execution”, the budget has a 48% increase from the outgoing fiscal year such that Capital Budget constitute 77% while Recurrent Expenditure have 23% with the same ratios as for the 2024 budget.
Making the presentation on the floor of the State House of Assembly, Soludo said the budget has N148 billion deficit that would be funded through revenue growth or borrowing from financial institutions.
“The budget deficit is estimated at N148.3 billion (24% of the budget compared to 30% in the 2024 budget). As in the 2024 budget, So far in both 2023 and 2024, we did not borrow to finance budget deficits.
“Depending on the execution in 2025, we may still not borrow to fund the deficit. Relative to 2024, several key sectors are seeing significant increases: the administrative sector by 45.5%; the Economic sector by 40.1%; the Judiciary sector by 51.3%; the social sector by 82.7%; Education by 101.4%; Health by 57.1%; and Infrastructure investment by 38.9%.”
The governor assured Ndi Anambra that every kobo entrusted to his government would be judiciously used to provide value for them.
“The budget represents your hopes, aspirations, and the collective vision for our future. Our agenda is fundamentally about shaping a better tomorrow not only for ourselves but also for the generations unborn.
“We are engaged in critical efforts that extend beyond our immediate needs and concerns. With this budget, we are laying the groundwork for a thriving and sustainable future for many generations to come.”
Earlier, the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Somtochukwu Udeze assured that the House would judiciously scrutinize the budget to ensure that Ndi Anambra get the best from next year’s budget.
According to him, the lawmakers’ interest will be on education, health, infrastructure, youth empowerment and security.
Udeze asked the Governor to constitute the House of Assembly Service Commission to be at per with other arms of government which have Judicial Service Commission and Civil Service Commission respectively.
This, according to him, will ensure that personnel administration under them can be seamlessly handled.
“Another body that is of immense assistant to the State Legislators in the analysis and review of development documents including MTEF and budget itself is Legislative Budget Research Office (LEBRO) to enhance the quality of legislative output in different areas of governance.”
Responding, Chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon Ejike Okechukwu applauded the budget, saying that by the time the state gets to gear 6 from the Changing Gear of Gear 2 being title of next year’s budget, Anambra State will be flying.
He assured the Governor that the House will slightly panel-beat during Budget Defence to fit into what is needed for the state and for the benefit of the people.
Okechukwu representing Anaocha Two Constituency, maintained that the budget is geared towards drastic development of the State.
Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Hon Chiamaka Nnake while addressing newsmen on budget breakdown, said government had prioritized security with lots being invested in the sector.
She said the government was also developing four heritage sites in the state.
“Government is prioritizing security. Infact, we’re not waiting for 2025 budget to come through; there’s so much of investment currently going on in that sector.
“The Ministry of Homeland Affairs which is one segment of the security outfit had a budget of 1.2bn in 2024, but currently 2.7bn.
“There’s also governors security votes which was 17bn in 2024 budget, but currently 25bn. There’s lot of efforts in improving security in the State.
“We don’t just prepare budget for preparation sake, but we know what we set out to achieve in the 2025 budget, and these are the things we have listed to you,” she added.
Recall that the 2024 Budget presented on November 21, 2023, titled “Changing Gears: The Transformation Agenda Begins”, had a total budget size of N410 billion.
