Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has signed the 2025 appropriation bill into law, barely 72 hours after the governor presented it to lawmakers.
Governor Fubara signed the N1.18 trillion appropriation bill at the government house in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
On Monday, the governor presented the budget proposal to a four-member Rivers state house of assembly led by Victor Oko-Jumbo.
A total of N462,254,153,418 was allocated to recurrent expenditure and N678,088,433,692 for capital projects. This brings the total appropriation to N1,188,962,739,932.
Fubara had said the new budget premised on achieving sustainable economic growth, accelerating the development of the State, and improving the living standards of the people. He added that the budget is premised on the assumptions of an oil price benchmark of $80 per barrel and an oil production capacity of 1.8 million per day.
Other revenue sources to finance the budget include the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) of N50 billion, Internally generated revenue of N264.4 billion, Statutory allocation of N18 billion, Mineral funds of N132.2 billion, Value Added Tax of N204.3 billion, N20 billion from Excess Crude Account and N27 billion refunds from bank charges while N250 billion is proposed as loans/bonds for the 2025 fiscal year.
Speaking after the signing of the budget, Fubara said his administration is no longer concerned with the division in the Rivers assembly.
“We have one assembly and that assembly is headed by Honourable Victor Oko-Jumbo. As far as I’m concerned, we have moved on. The matter of the lawmakers who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, APC, is already dead and buried,” he said.
In December 2023, Fubara presented the state’s N800 billion budget estimate for 2024 to five-member of the River assembly led by Edison Ehie.
Barely twenty-four hours later, the Rivers governor signed the 2024 appropriation bill into law.
Oko-Jumbo took over as the speaker of the faction of the Rivers assembly loyal to Fubara.
The majority of the Rivers assembly lawmakers led by Martin Amaewhule are loyal to Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).
Since 2023, the assembly has been factionalised following the feud between Fubara and Wike.
