Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly (AKHA), on Thursday, September 5, 2024 granted approval to the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper earlier submitted to it by the state government.

The approval followed the adoption of the resolution of the report of the House Committee on Economic Planning and Development during plenary.

Speaker, Udeme Otong, after due considerations, directed the Clerk of the Assembly, NsikakAbasi Orok to communicate the resolution of the House to State Governor, Umo Eno for implementation.

The approval of the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly provides a framework for the State Government to set fiscal policy objectives, allocate resources and monitor progress over a three-year horizon.

Presenting the report of the Committee, its Chairman, Nsidibe Akata, PhD, said the House received the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper on Wednesday, 21 August, 2024, as was forwarded by Governor Umo Eno for consideration and approval.

The Chairman said before the Committee submitted the report on the floor of the House for approval, it held a Public Hearing on Thursday 29, 2024, where inputs were received from stakeholders in the state.

According to Akata who read the report to the House, he said thorough considerations of all inputs received and legislative actions were expended on the 2025-2027 Expenditure Framework, after which recommendations were read and adopted before the House passed the resolution.

The Committee’s recommendations included; “that the macro-economic assumptions used for 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) be adopted; that the tentative budget size of N777,703,510,574 (seven hundred and seventy-seven billion, seven hundred and three million, five hundred and ten thousand, five hundred and seven-four naira) for 2025 fiscal year as presented, be adopted.

“Government should be realistic in the forecast of Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), which determines the resources that will be available to fund Government’s programme from a fiscal sustainable perspective after the review of the State’s Economic and Financial Updates (EFU), and the Sectoral Expenditure ceiling for capital should be on sub-sectoral basis, rather than on Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to reflect the ARISE Agenda Blueprint.

Other recommendations were; that the total Capital Component for 2025 fiscal year is now N457, 880, 764,697 (four hundred and fifty-seven billion, eight hundred and eight million, seven hundred and sixty-four thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven naira), while the loan financing be reduced from N53,305,000,000,00 (fifty-three billion, three hundred and five million naira) to N33, 305, 000,000,00 (thirty-three billion, three hundred and five million naira ).

That Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR) should be increased from N65,064,381,000,00 ( sixty-five billion, sixty-four million, three hundred and eight-one thousand naira) to N85, 064,381,000.00 (eight-five billion, sixty-four million, three hundred and eight -one thousand naira) as presented; that on page 9, 1. A. 3-Preparation and Audience: “ Labour Union” should be included as stakeholders; and that this Honourable House is requested to approve the Draft 2025-2027 MTEF & FPS as presented by the Committee.

At the end of the presentation of the report, the Committee thanked Governor Umo Eno, the Speaker, members and the Hon. Commissioners, Ministries of Economic Development and Finance, as well as other stakeholders for their support and contribution during the exercise.