AKHA: Finance Committee receives communiqué, begins budget defence next Monday

Usoro

The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly committee on Finance and appropriation has received the communiqué on the one day public hearing on the 2016 Akwa Ibom State budget of Sustainable development held in the Assembly premises last week. The communiqué which was presented to the Chairman of the committee Usoro Akpanusoh by the Chairman and Secretary of the communiqué drafting committee Mr. Ekong Nkang and Innocent Okon respectively resolved that Akwa Ibom State budget should be articulated within the context of the state economic development  strategy and the medium term expenditure framework, that the 2016 budget should not be predicated on the basis of revenues from crude oil only but henceforth be based on diversified revenue sources.

The communiqué amongst others also resolved that to enhance accountability and effectiveness in projects and programmes implementation, ministries, Departments and agencies should strictly adhere to the functions and responsibilities of their establishments, to avoid roles duplication and conflicts. It also recommended that the various House committees in the House of assembly should effectively exercise their oversight functions of monitoring and evaluating the 2016 budget implementation to achieve its cardinal objectives.
Speaking to newsmen, the chairman of the AKHA committee on Finance and Appropriation who received the communiqué in his office onbehalf of other members expressed appreciation to the communiqué committee for a thorough job done and expressed the willingness of the committee to ensure that no stone is left unturned as the budget defence begins next Monday.
He expressed the gratitude of the Speaker of the Assembly Barr Onofiok Luke to the committee and expressed satisfaction with the report saying all the recommendations will be looked into and followed to the later.
Meanwhile, the Finance and Appropriation committee has fixed Monday, 25th January, 2016 as commencement of the Budget defence by Ministries and parastatals. The committee Chairman made this known in an interaction with newsmen in Uyo. The exercise is expected to run for about ten days were commissioners, board chairman, commission chairmen will be expected to come defend the budget proposals attached to their ministries.
The event is billed for the conference room of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly as is expected to begin at 9:00am each day.