A civil society organisation, Policy Alert, has expressed concerns over the 2023 third-quarter budget performance report of the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The organisation noted that the report revealed the state government’s neglect of key sectors in the economy and its continuation of obtaining loans illegally.
In a statement issued by Nneka Luke Ndumere, the Media Contact of Policy Alert, and signed by Faith Paulinus, the Programme Officer for Fiscal Reforms and Anti-Corruption, the group expressed worry that both the health sector and the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector had zero capital releases during the period under review.
The group also observed that the Office of the Governor, Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General, which do not have capital development functions directly impacting citizens, consumed N6.32 billion in capital expenditure.
The CSO further noted that the administration spent N47.71 billion on recurrent items in the last quarter report, which was more than 30 percent higher than the N36.64 billion spent on capital projects.
This was contrary to recent public commitments by the governor to reduce the cost of governance and recurrent expenditure.
The Policy Alert described the developments as red flags in the state’s public finance management approach that the government should address urgently.
It also urged the state government to disclose specific projects that used the N751 million disbursed for capital projects in the educational sector.
“It is even more disturbing that the authorisation to obtain these loans was never discussed on the floor of the House of Assembly in breach of the Fiscal Law of the state,” the statement read in parts.
