Speaker, Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. John Gaul Lebo has called on members of Cross River State House of Assembly to consider the importance of the Appropriation Amendment Bill 2016 and also examine the flaws and unprofitable aspect of the bill to avoid a repeat in the preparation of the 2017 budget.
Reacting to contributions from members, Lebo called on them not to limit their thoughts to just reduction or increase of budget size and whether it is realistic and realizable.
He maintained that rather, the amendment should among other areas consider issues relating to supplementary budget that could be rolled over to suit the states budgeting need for 2017.
The Speaker added that Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs should be made to present funding models for their proposed budgets to determine whether their budget proposals could be accommodated in a fiscal year.
Leader of the House, Rt. Hon. Moses Ushie Ucheche, member representing Obanliku State Constituency who moved the motion for the amendment of the bill, stated that the budget needs to be reviewed because all the expectation of the bill that was suppose to yield good income for the state was not achieved and therefore urged the House to review the 2016 Appropriation Bill to enable it yield good income for the State.
Contributing also, Rt. Hon. Okon E. Ephraim member representing Calabar South I State Constituency pointed out that the amendment of the 2016 Appropriation Bill should be properly looked into in order to elicit the benefit of the budget, suggesting that the 2016 budget should be reviewed downward.
The bill was committed to the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation to report back to the House in 14days for further deliberations.