Gov Ayade blames consultant for failure to present 2020 budget on announced date

Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, on Friday blamed a consultant as the reason he failed to present his government’s 2020 budget proposal to the state legislature as earlier announced during a radio broadcast.

Explaining why the budget was not presented on Friday as announced, the director general of the state Budget Office, Abeng Onoh, told journalists in his office in Calabar, “When the governor asked us we told him we have not finished. I just finished speaking with the consultant.”

According to him, the budget would be ready by next week Wednesday or Thursday.

He added, “The problem why the budget was not finished is not from us but the consultant. The network was always fluctuating. Sometimes he will come and sit down for the network to come up. It was not the governor’s fault.

“What happened is that nearly all the states are operating 52 digits while we are still operating 35 digits mode of codification of projects in the budget. The whole world is using 52 digits. So we are converting from 35 digits to 52 digits. We have not really finished.

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“If you look at the capital expenditure, the coding has geo-location. If you have a project in Obubra, any person who sees the code on the internet will know the location is Obubra. Likewise projects in other local governments. In the Federal Government budget, it is the states that are used as codes. It is also operating the 52-digit code.

“Every state has a code. In the states every local government has a code. Any project you do in that local government has a code and can easily be traced as projects are codified according to local government. Cross River State uses State Integrated Financial Management Information System rather than Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) the Federal Government and other states use.”

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