The Cross River State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed N642,160,260,164.66 as 2025 supplementary budget for the state.

Recall that the house, on December 24, 2024, passed the 2025 Appropriation Bill, tagged “Budget of Sustainable Growth,” totalling over N538 billion.

The supplementary budget shows a variance of about N142 billion, representing 26 per cent increase over the initial budget.

Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Assembly’s Finance and Appropriation Committee, Okon Owuna, said the addition was to accommodate several critical expenditures that were not captured in the original 2025 budget.

Mr Owuna said the development provided the fiscal space to introduce additional expenditures across critical sectors.

He also said that the supplementary budget introduced an upward adjustment across sectors like administration, economic, law and justice, among others.

He stated, “The key factors necessitating the supplementary budget include new obligations and emergency spending not captured in the original budget. There are also recently approved strategic programmes requiring immediate financial backing and improved outlook from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), internal grants and state shares from Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). The budget will be financed from IGR, aids and grants and FAAC.’’

In separate reactions, other lawmakers said that the approval of the supplementary budget was necessitated by Governor Bassey Otu’s commitment to infrastructure development in the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.

The Speaker, Elvert Ayambem, noted that the supplementary budget was for the welfare of citizens of the state.

Mr Ayambem further said that projects in all the LGAs had been duly captured with a view to transforming the state.

(NAN)