Cross River Governor Bassey Otu has presented a proposed N987.8 billion budget for 2027 to the state House of Assembly, with N708.4 billion earmarked for capital projects.
The estimates presented in Calabar on Wednesday, October 21, put capital spending at 71.72 per cent of the total. Recurrent expenditure is proposed at N279.38 billion, or 28.28 per cent.
Infrastructure has the largest listed sectoral allocation at N246.1 billion. Education is allocated N99.6 billion, health N85.4 billion, agriculture N28.2 billion and aviation N21.8 billion.
Other proposed allocations include N20.2 billion for the House of Assembly, N19.1 billion for the judiciary, N16.6 billion for power and N11.3 billion for tourism.
The proposal is about 2.57 per cent above the 2026 spending framework, which Otu said had been raised to N963.07 billion through a supplementary budget. He said the new estimates were based on the state’s 2027–2029 expenditure and fiscal strategy framework.
Otu said his administration had taken no fresh domestic or external loans since assuming office in 2023. He attributed the state’s debt burden to inherited obligations and said currency devaluation had increased the naira value of external debt.
He said the government would seek stronger internally generated revenue, federal allocations, development assistance and private investment to fund its priorities.
Reviewing existing programmes, Otu said the state had delivered more than 608 kilometres of roads across its three senatorial districts and deployed more than N17 billion in Universal Basic Education Commission intervention funds. He also cited hospital rehabilitation and medical oxygen plants in Calabar and Ogoja.
The governor said the Bakassi Deep Seaport had received federal approval but was awaiting construction, with about $3.5 billion in anticipated private investment. He also pledged to maintain free and compulsory education from primary to junior secondary school and payment of WAEC fees for public-school students.
Otu asked lawmakers to consider and pass the Appropriation Bill promptly.
Sources: Channels Television, Vanguard
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