Cross River’s mystical budget

In 2019, the Cross River State Government presented a N1.043tn budget tagged a Budget of “Qabalistic Densification”. We know that Internally Generated Revenue and the Federation Account Allocation Committee disbursements are our states’ primary sources of funding, supported by debt and, in some instances, grants.

As of June 2019 (six months), Cross River state’s IGR was N33.9bn which for the sake of comparison, we can annualise to N67.8bn for the whole of 2019. As of September 2019 (nine months), the state’s total FAAC allocation was N27.28bn with a N13.59bn direct deduction, leaving a net of N13.6bn. This we can annualise to N18.25bn.

Total annualised FAAC and IGR would then be N86.053bn against an expenditure budget of N1.043tn. This will result in a deficit of N956.947bn. Did Cross River state attract grants and loans of N957bn in 2019?

It will be interesting to know what percentage of the 2019 Budget was achieved because to put this deficit in perspective, N956.947bn is N82.947bn more than the Lagos state 2019 Budget of N874bn.

Does anyone know what happened in this state or are we just fooling around with numbers? Someone somewhere should tell us. We are eager to know.

Dr Jekwu Ozoemene,

Port Harcourt, Rivers state

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