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Rivers House okays N104b supplementary bill

By Ann Godwin, Port Harcourt
11 December 2015   |   2:44 am
THE Rivers State House of Assembly passed a supplementary appropriation bill of N104 billion for the 2015 fiscal year.
PHOTO: www.thebreakingtimes.com

PHOTO: www.thebreakingtimes.com

THE Rivers State House of Assembly passed a supplementary appropriation bill of N104 billion for the 2015 fiscal year.

“Additional N2 billion was included to the figure after adjustments to balance out the amount in order to strengthen every arm of government,” the Speaker, Ikunyi Ibani, disclosed.

He said the supplementary bill was exclusively for capital projects.
“This supplementary bill is not meant for recurrent expenditure that is, payment of salaries, but it is solely aimed at infrastructures, especially, developmental projects like roads, hospitals, completion of projects among others, “ Ibani stressed.

The supplementary bill was given expeditious hearing as the first, second and third readings took place same day.

The House was later collapsed to committee level and the Speaker served as chairman of the Supplementary Appropriation Committee and 20 minutes later, the Assembly reconvened.

In his contribution, the House Leader, Matins Amawule, described the bill as a tradition and very important to the completion of ongoing projects scattered across the state.

He said it was necessary to provide good platform for revenue, adding that things were getting worse due to falling oil prices.

Amawule noted that the approval would go a long way in ameliorating the plight of the people.
“The situation of things is getting worse, including the lives of people. We are aware of the numerous ongoing projects across the state, so approving the bill will go a long way in ameliorating the challenges of the people,” he stated.

The Speaker subsequently divided the House and all 22 lawmakers present unanimously voted in favour of the bill, while he directed the Clerk to dispatch a letter to the governor conveying the passage of the bill.

Earlier, the Assembly screened and confirmed two commissioners and five special advisers.

Recall that former Governor Chibuike Amaechi had in March, this year, signed into law the state’s 2015 appropriation bill of N338 billion.In the bill, the capital expenditure was put at N219 billion while recurrent expenditure stood at N119 billion.

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