Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has presented the 2025 Appropriation Bill of N750, 282, 200,000.00 to the Abia State House of Assembly for consideration and passage.
The governor while presenting the budget before the Emmanuel Emeruwa-led House of Assembly, said his administration has been disciplined in the management of the 2024 budget which he said was utilized to transform the state in various sectors.
In the proposed 2025 Abia State budget, N611.7 billion, representing 82 percent, will go to capital projects while N138.6 billion representing 18 percent, will be channelled to recurrent expenditure even as education and health got lion shares of 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
The Abia governor, who reported an increase of about 30 percent in the 2025 budget from the 2024 document, said that his administration will sustain the ongoing transformation in health, education, infrastructure, agriculture and security of lives and property, among others.
He said N13 billion naira has been set aside in the 2025 budget for construction of agro-industrial processing zones in three local government areas of Ukwa, Bende and Umunnochi, while N14.6 billion will be used to build reading rooms and libraries across 184 wards of the state.
Also, N18.9 billion was earmarked for social benefits.
Otti disclosed that several state-owned agricultural assets which were in the hands of private entities, without returns to the state government, were recovered within the year.
The governor, who restated that security of lives and property in all parts of the state remained his top priority, lamented the painful loss of gallant security personnel and other innocent citizens in the hands of hoodlums.
