The Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA), has hailed the 2020 Appropriation Bill presented to it by Governor Nyesom Wike earlier this week describing the speech as reassuring and an entire development plan.
\nThe House Committee Chairman on Information and Training, Enemi\u00a0George\u00a0stated this yesterday, when he appeared on a radio programme monitored by The Tide in Port Harcourt.
\nHon. George, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation and lawmaker representing Asari\/Toru Constituency 11 said the Governor\u2019s budget speech focused on key areas that have been on the front burner.
\n\u201cIt is not just about me, I am just one person in the House representing people. But if you listened to the governor\u2019s speech, you will see that it is very reassuring. You will see a component of an entire development plan that is very focused and key areas that have been on the front burner were emphasized upon.
\n\u201cYou see the governor talking about human capital development, agriculture, a huge chunk of the funds are proposed for agriculture education got about 20 per cent and it is the highest we have ever seen.
\nHe mentioned employment which has also been an issue.\u00a0So you see that this is a budget that gives a very positive outlook and every Rivers person should welcome it with open hands. We are very positive and forward thinking state. We always look where we are coming from, project deliberately where we want to be,\u201d he stated.
\nOn the performance of the 2019 budget, Hon. George said: \u201cThere was a slight budget performance shortfall in 2019. That is because of obvious macro economic reasons and so you see that before the governor says that okay we are looking forward and we are hoping the proposal (budget) for 2020, ofcourse you should know that plans have been put on ground to ensure that this is achieved.\u201d
\nHe further said steps have been put in place in the area of ease of doing\u00a0business in the State, including effective Land Administration, justice administration and tax Administration, saying: \u201cThese areas have been heavily invested in by the Rivers State Government. So you see that business is looking up in Rivers State.
\n\u201cYou see that for the first time in the history of our state we have an almost perfect tax administration system that has professionals\u00a0running it we have automated our tax administration system. We have automated our land administration system.
\n\u201cSo you see all of these are going to work together to improve our revenue. And because of the obvious reasons why we had a shortfall in the 2019 budget, the government is taking positive steps\u00a0to ensure that those areas are looked at.
\n\u201cYou see that there was heavy reliance on federal allocation and the principal reason why the 2019 budget did not perform up to expectation was because of macro economic reasons,
\n\u201dThat is why we are taking step to begin to boost our agriculture, these are low hanging fruits that the government believes that if invested heavily in we will begin to see quick returns,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

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By:\u00a0Dennis Naku,Charity Opara & Hilda Okere<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA), has hailed the 2020 Appropriation Bill presented to it by Governor Nyesom Wike earlier this week describing the speech as reassuring and an entire development plan. The House Committee Chairman on Information and Training, Enemi\u00a0George\u00a0stated this yesterday, when he appeared on a radio programme monitored by The Tide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":221315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n