The governor of Cross River State in southern Nigeria, Professor Ben Ayade, has presented to the House of Assembly the “Budget of Conjugated Agglutination” worth N276 billion for the 2022 fiscal year.
The appropriation bill has N106 billion as recurrent expenditure, while N170 billion is for capital projects.
Governor Ayade explained that the budget, which would consolidate on the gains of the past 6 years, will be utilized to fast-track the completion of all ongoing projects in the State.
“The 2022 budget tries to marry reality, certainty, aspiration and hope. It is a budget that will ensure all the projects embarked upon are completed.
“It is conjugated agglutination because it is a cascade of so many projects, back-to-back to ensure completion. Putting all together to form a new envelop that, when it explodes, you will see a new prosperity agenda,” the governor explained.
According to the governor, his administration is poised to complete most of the ongoing projects such as the Obudu Cargo and passengers International Airport, Obudu British/Canadian International School, the Odukpani Junction flyover, amongst others, in the next one year, while already completed ones would be officially inaugurated by 2022.
Paying retirees
The governor further disclosed that the 2022 fiscal policy has alloted between N30 million and N50 million monthly as special fund for the payments of pensions and gratuities of retired workers.
“It is my dream that all retirees get their gratuity and pensions because someday, we all will grow old,” he said.
Ayade sued for speedy passage of the budget to enable the executive embark on continuous payment of the entitlements of retired civil and public servants in Cross River State.
Budget titles
In 2015, Governor Ayade christened the appropriation bill “Budget of Transition” and a “Budget of Deep Vision” was proposed for 2016, while “Infinite Transposition” was the tag given to the 2017 budget.
“Kinetic Crystallization” formed the title of the 2018 appropriation bill, while the Cross River State governor again tagged the 2019 budget “Qabalistic Densification” and in 2020 mesmerized the people by christening the budget “Olympotic Meristemasis”.
The 2021 fiscal policy was tagged “Budget of Blush and Bliss”, and now the 2022 budget, which in estimate seems to be the lowest, has been christened “Conjugated Agglutination” in the true scientific nature of the governor, Professor Ben Ayade.
