Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state has signed into law the 2018 appropriation bill with a total outlay of N646.65billion from N651 billion estimates earlier presented to the State House of Assembly last year.

Emmanuel who performed the ceremony at the Government House, Uyo on Wednesday commended the Speaker, Mr. Onofiok Luke and members of the state Assembly for painstakingly going round the projects sites to ensure due process was followed before passing it into law.

Highlights of the Act shows that Recurrent expenditure was raised to 94.65 billion from 92.657billion earlier proposed while the capital expenditure was however reduced from N437.674 billion to N431.14 billion with consolidated revenue was kept at N120.86 as proposed.

Emmanuel noted that his administration would continue to seek the cooperation of the federal government in the release of funds due the state to enable the full implementation of the Act.

He expressed appreciation to the Head of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the cooperation they accorded the House of Assembly Appropriation Committee which contributed to the timely passage of the law.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Linus Nkan who interacted with newsmen shortly after the budget signing ceremony said government was comfortable with the oversight role played by the house as it signposted the synergy between the Executive and Legislature.

He disclosed that the slight adjustments made by the House to the estimate earlier presented by the governor were agreed by respective MDAs before the passage, expressing optimism about full implementation of the budget as signed into law.