The Anambra State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the 2023 budget of N259.9bn.
The bill was passed on Tuesday, following the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation during plenary.
The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Mr Nonso Okafor, during the passage said the capital expenditure was increased from the initial N164.2bn to N164.4bn based on the needs of the ministries, departments and agencies, representing 63.2 per cent of the budget.
Okafor said the recurrent expenditure was N95.4bn, representing 36.8 per cent.
He said, “In carrying out the assignment given to the committee by this house, we organised and invited MDAs for bilateral discussions and thorough scrutiny of the 2023 Budget.
“We recommend that the budget size be retained except for little adjustments based on the needs of some ministries, department and agencies.
“That the sum of N259,938,121,905 be approved for the service of the Anambra State Government for the year ending, December 31, 2023, and for related purposes.”
The Speaker, Uchenna Okafor, commended the committee for a thorough scrutiny of the budget, while presiding over a voice vote for the adoption of the report.
The house passed the bill after the voice-vote and the speaker directed the Clerk of the House, Mrs Esther Anaetoh, to send a copy of the bill to the State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, for his assent.
The Speaker also announced that the House would hold a valedictory session for its late Majority Leader, Dr Nnamdi Okafor, who died on August 24, in South Africa.
