Posted by By GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka on
At long last, the Anambra State Appropriation Bill 2008 was yesterday passed into law by the state House of Assembly. The N84.2 billion proposed bill by Governor Peter Obi was, however, reduced to N74.5 billion before it was passed by the lawmakers.
At long last, the Anambra State Appropriation Bill 2008 was yesterday passed into law by the state House of Assembly. The N84.2 billion proposed bill by Governor Peter Obi was, however, reduced to N74.5 billion before it was passed by the lawmakers.
The budget proposal which was submitted by Obi in December, 2007, had divided the House into two with 11 members insisting that it should be passed whole as presented by the governor while 19 members had argued that N84.2 billion was not realizable and needed to be adjusted accordingly.
The budget crisis led to a free-for-all-fight on the floor of the House in one of the sittings when the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation presented its report and reduced the budget to N57.6 billion which led the Anambra State Elders Forum to intervene to broker peace.
The 19 members had argued that there were some irregularities in the budget proposal, involving a loan of N16 billion which they said the executive did not indicate its details.
But after series of meetings with both the lawmakers and the executive, the elders finally brokered peace and all came to the agreement that N74, 575, 810, 000 should be the realistic budget for the state.
When the House reconvened yesterday, with the elders in attendance the Speaker, Hon. Anayo Nnebe, thanked the elders of the state, for their intervention and commended the member for their hard work and commitment to the betterment of the state.
The Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Ikenna Amaechi, then presented a revised report which took care of some amendments that brought the budget to N74.5 billion.
After his report, the House retired to a committee of the whole House to discuss the report by motion moved by the House leader, Hon. Njideka Ezeigwe and the gallery was cleared.
On resumption, Ezeigwe moved for the reading of the Appropriation Bill for the third and last time and was supported by her deputy, Hon. Nikky Ugochukwu.
The bill was then read as amended and was unanimously passed by the members.
Reacting to the passage of the bill, the Ohaneze President, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, said what happened was democracy in action and had shown that dialogue is the best in every situation.