The Anambra House of Assembly has passed the 2024 Appropriation Bill of N410 billion.

The approval came on Thursday, a month after Governor Charles Soludo presented the bill to the parliament.

The passage followed the adoption of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation report during plenary in Awka.

While presenting the report, Ejike Okechukwu, chairman of the committee, said the budget size should be retained as presented by the governor.

He said the capital expenditure was pegged at N313,930,288,526 (77 per cent), and the recurrent expenditure, N96,201,936,746 (23 per cent), remained the same as presented.

“We organised and invited the heads of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) for bilateral discussions and thorough scrutiny of the 2024 budget. After the review, we had a few changes and adjustments based on the needs of the different MDAs, but they still fit into the budget heads,” said Mr Okechukwu.

He added, “That the sum N410,132,225,272 be approved for the services of the government of Anambra state for the year ending December 31, 2024, and for related purposes. We also recommend that funds should be released to MDAs for optimum budget performance.”

The speaker of the house, Somtochukwu Udeze, commended the committee for the thorough scrutiny of the budget and conducted a voice vote for the adoption of the report.

After the house passed the bill, the speaker directed the acting clerk, Okechukwu Nwobi, to send a copy of the bill to Mr Soludo for his assent.

Anambra’s 2024 budget is tagged ‘Changing Gears: The Transformation Agenda Begins’ and is N150 billion higher than 2023 (N260 billion), a 57.8 per cent increase.

Also at plenary, the Anambra State Energy Bill 2023 and the Bill for a Law to Ensure the Safety of Factory Workers 2023 were read for the first time.

The house adjourned plenary until January 16.

(NAN)