Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has signed into law the state’s 2025 Appropriation Bill into law, 17 days after he presented the N750,282,200,000.00 before the State House of Assembly.
The governor’s assent was given to the 2025 appropriation bill on Friday, barely 24 hours after it was passed into law by the state legislature without any amendment whatsoever.
Otti commended the state lawmakers for giving the bill an accelerated hearing and passage, saying that the budget would make it possible for his government to sustain the fulfilment of its promises to Abians.
“This budget that was passed is a budget that will give us the impetus to continue to fire on all cylinders to ensure that our people are living a good life,” he said.
Though the 2025 budget was delivered to him intact, Otti nonetheless, noted that the members and the leadership of Abia House “did a thorough job in record time”.
.He praised the state legislature profusely “for a great job you did in scrutinising the budget, disagreeing in a few areas, and also being flexible enough to accept when reasonable responses are given.”
According to Otti, his administration is noted for timely execution of projects hence “We pride ourselves as a serious-minded government, so anything we present, we are ready for scrutiny.”
He said that the christening of the 2025 budget was deliberate as it demonstrated the sustained momentum in infrastructural development across Abia which was why capital allocation got 82 per cent of the total budget.
“When we say sustained momentum, we know that we have taken off and the challenge is to continue because the easiest thing to do is to accelerate and deaccelerate”.
“We can assure you that this government has its eyes on the ball and will continue to do those things we promised our people that will take this state out of poverty, that will take this state out as one of the dirtiest states like it was in 2023,” Otti stated.
He also explained that the huge outlay for Infrastructure meant that there would be no compromise in quality, adding that “when you have capital expenditure over 80 per cent, it speaks to what you want to do with infrastructure, things that would out-last all of us”.
The governor listed some of the major road projects that commenced in 2023 would be completed in 2025 to include Port Harcourt road in Aba, Umuahia – Uzuakoli -Abiriba – Ohafia road, the Ohafia – Arochukwu to the boundary in Ini, the Okobo -Abam- road, the Omenuko bridge, Nunya road, among others.
He further assured Abians that the ongoing infrastructural transformation of education and health sectors would be sustained and delivered on schedule.
The Speaker of the Abia House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa, had while presenting the appropriation bill for the governor’s assent, described it as a very aggressive budget.
He reiterated the readiness of the state lawmakers to sustain the cordial working relationship with the executive arm of government, adding that Abia would continue to grow from strength to strength.
Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo
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