The Abia State government led by Alex Otti says it will be borrowing N401,162,378,914 to finance the 2024 budget.

Otti on Tuesday presented a budget estimate of N567.2 billion for the 2024 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

The budget was christened “Budget of New Beginning.”

Otti said, “The 2024 budget proposal targets the expansion of our public infrastructure in line with our new development targets, scaling up access and quality service delivery in the social sector, with a special focus on education and health where we are proposing to commit more than 20 per cent and 15 per cent of the aggregate budget spending, respectively.

“The key distinction in the 2024 budget estimate, however, is in the direction of spending. While the 2023 projection allocated 53 per cent of the entire budget for capital expenditure, our target in the 2024 fiscal year is to spend 84 per cent of the total expenditure on capital projects and commit 16 per cent to recurrent expenditure, as against 47 per cent in the 2023 estimates.”

However, checks revealed that the budget proposal has a deficit of around N400 billion which the state said would be financed with local and external borrowings.

The state’s revenue for 2024 in the proposal was estimated at N166 billion which will be generated through grants from multilateral organisations, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), allocation from the Nigerian government and other income sources.

The 2024 budget proposal of N567.2 billion is higher than the state’s budget of 2023 by around N407 billion.

“Highlights of the Abia State 2024 Budget Estimate as Presented by Gov. @alexottiofr to the State House of Assembly,” Dodoh Okafor, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Alex Otti on Public Communication posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“1. Total budget estimate: Five Hundred and Sixty-Seven Billion, Two Hundred and Forty Million, Ninety-Five Thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Two Naira.

“Capital Expenditure: N476,011,317,893.00 (excluding the capital component of Statutory Transfers). This figure represents 84% of the entire budget envelope. The bulk of this sum would be spent on road infrastructure, building and equipping of new schools and hospitals.

“Recurrent expenditure: N91,228,778,070.01 representing 16% of the budget envelope. Budget provision to cater for increase in the state salary package as the governor works to change the state wage structure to reflect the economic realities of the time.

“Budget financing:

Expected revenue: N166,077,717,058 covering IGR, earnings from FAAC, grants from multilateral and donor agencies and all other revenue sources that shall be available to the state in the course of the year...

“Financing the deficit: The deficit of N401,162,378,914 will be financed by new borrowings estimated at N385,271,027,214. Fifty percent of the loans will be sourced externally, whilst the balance will be procured domestically.

“Loans will only be procured at concessionary rates and committed strictly to projects that have direct impacts on the economic and social development of the communities in all parts of the state.”

vowiski:
Visionary leader

Mynd44:
Generate ₦‎161 Billion

Borrow ₦‎380 billion

This might raise eyebrows but seeing 84% capital expenditure gives some comfort that these loans will be used on projects that might cause more funds to be generated gives some comfort.

Hopefully Otti can become that Governor Abia needs

theophorus:
84% Capital Expenditure is Massive but to aim to borrow over 65% of finance sounds funny but financial experts will likely encourage it.

Mr. Otti please let this budget speak.

All the Best to Abians.

LegendHero:


— Ikpeazu budgeted 157 billion in 2023 and out of this, 75 billion (47.2%) us the recurrent expenditure.


—Otto is passing a budget of 567billion today and he is allocating 16% to recurrent expenditure with a naira amount of 90billion.

So technically, he is still spending as much as Ikpeazu on recurrent expenditure. He just use some mind game in his unrealistic budget.

How can you fund your budget with 400 billion loan which is like over 70% of your total revenue in a year?

LegendHero:
..

LegendHero:
..

BeautifulMind2:

Forget the figures being mentioned by governors of different state, check out their performance next year, most of the governors in your region know how to exaggerate figures especially on budget and IGR just to deceive gullible minds at the end they deliver nothing, we all know what Ogun quoted as budget and IGR till now they are struggling to complete small airport project after borrowing billions no reasonable project in that state and the year is winding up same with other states in your region except Lagos, so forgot next year na projects we are after not figures

theophorus:


Well 75B to 90B is understandable cos of Inflation.
My main concern is He should allow the Budget speak so that we all can have a better State and then Country.

BeautifulMind2:

Forget the figures being mentioned by governors of different state, check out their performance next year, most of the governors in your region know how to exaggerate figures especially on budget and IGR just to deceive gullible minds at the end they deliver nothing, we all know what Ogun quoted as budget and IGR till now they are struggling to complete small airport project after borrowing billions no reasonable project in that state and the year is winding up same with other states in your region except Lagos, so forgot next year na projects we are after not figures

LegendHero:


Can you give an example of such project that will generate fund as captured in that budget?

—Works (roads and bridges) receive 16.97% @96billion

—Land and Housing receive 9.9% @ 56billion

—Agriculture 5.2% @ 29billion

—Healthcare receive 15% @ 85billion

The above is almost half of the budget. Could you please let us know which of these items you think will generate massive revenue for him as quick wins within 2 years?

LegendHero:


Can you give an example of such project that will generate fund as captured in that budget?

—Works (roads and bridges) receive 16.97% @96billion

—Land and Housing receive 9.9% @ 56billion

—Agriculture 5.2% @ 29billion

—Healthcare receive 15% @ 85billion

The above is almost half of the budget. Could you please let us know which of these items you think will generate massive revenue for him as quick wins within 2 years?

BeautifulMind2:

Tell me what these guys achieve with 2023 humongous figures they budget when cost was relatively low, states with low budget in the east performed better than them

LegendHero:


Lol. I remember we once argued about Aregbesola back in the days about the loans he collected and how he made Osun broke with government not able to meet salary capacity because of too much loan.

Aregbesola by far is the best Osun governor as he invested those loans on mainly road construction and education (school construction) generally and those are still standing till today.

However, when you borrow massive loan for project that won’t be able to generate revenue on their own to at least close the gap, it is very counterproductive.

So when it reach Otti turn now we should forget the budget, but when Buhari borrowed massive loan we condemned him to a fault and no one use this our logic.

BeautifulMind2:

Anambra budget last year was N258.97 billion for 2023, the governor performed better than those that quoted larger figures and didn't borrow 1 Kobo to fund his budget watch out ANAMBRA performance next year mark by post

Yancedsa:
Wait till soludo releases his own budget for Anambra

obi58:
People are questioning how Abia will fund a 400b budget. Of course the budget will be reviewed by the Abia H of A and modified or ratified as deemed fit. That's the beauty of democracy.

Let's leave that to the Abia state ministry of finance to source but the intention is to do 50% local loans and 50% foreign.

What is more important is that the governor seeks to invest 84% of his budget on infrastructure. This is a governor who came in, realizes the scope of work to be done and has rolled up his sleeves to get the major issues done. The Abian people have seriously suffered from a massive infrastructure deficit for the past 24 years. Just like Bayelsa, PDP really did Abia bad. 24% of the CAPEX will go to education and 18% will go to health.

Btw of the 16% recurrent budget, please note that Otti is going to the process salary increases for the entire Abia civil service.

LegendHero:


What is Soludo greatest achievement last year?

Can you mention it?

LegendHero:


If Otti is a visionary leader for wanting to borrow almost 70% of his budget in his first year in office, what then is Obi?

Obedient always claim Peter Obi did not borrow so hence that makes him a good leader. Then now you Obedient are praising Otti to high even when he alone is borrowing 400billion in one performance year, almost 70% of the budget.

Make Alex Otti fear God nao.