Gov. Bassey Otu of Cross River on Tuesday presented the 2025 Appropriation Bill of N498 billion for the 2025 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

The appropriation bill is dubbed, “Budget for Sustainable Development.”

The budget, which has N328 billion and N170 billion as its capital and recurrent expenditures respectively, is N202 billion more than the 2024 appropriation bill.

The governor was, however, silent on the implementation of the new minimum wage, bringing a sort of disappointment to the state workforce who had expected a pronouncement on the wage.

The Commissioner for Information, Dr Erasmus Ekpang, however, said that the governor remained committed to the implementation of the new wage and would make a pronouncement soon.

“Budget presentation is not the right time to announce such news as important as the new minimum wage.

“A lot of work is currently ongoing between the government and labour unions in the state behind the scenes and it will not be right for the governor to preempt anything.

“However, rest assured workers in the state will have cause to smile very soon on the new wage,” Ekpang said.

It will be recalled that labour unions in the state recently said that negotiation was yet to be concluded between it and the state government on the new minimum wage.

Mr Monday Ogbodum, Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), in the state had said that the negotiation was based on the template provided by the Federal Government on the implementation of the new minimum wage.

“I can only tell that we are still discussing with the government on the implementation of the new wage and indeed, talk is progressing.

“What I cannot tell you now is the amount that would be agreed upon by both parties, but I can say that it will not fall short of what the federal is paying,” he said.(NAN)