The Rivers House of Assembly on Friday passed the proposed N480 billion Appropriation Bill for the 2019 fiscal year made up of N157.12 billion recurrent expenditure and  N323.28 capital expenditure.

The passage followed the presentation of the report of the House Committee on Appropriation/Supply by the Chairman, Mr Christian Ahiakwo, (PDP-Ogba/Egbema/Andoni) Constituency 1.

Mr Sam Ogeh representing Emohua Constituency move the motion for the adoption of the report and was seconded by Adams Dima representing Okrika Constituency.

Following the third reading of the bill and passage, the Speaker, Mr Ikwunyi-awaji Ibani commended the committee for its commitment and ensuring proper examination of the proposed budget.

Ibani said that the committee having studied extensively the provisions of the budget agreed that it was a balanced financial document for the year.

“In doing so, members of the committee highlighted the various sectorial allocations contained in the 2019 appropriation bill.

“Some observations were made in the process and the committee agreed that the appropriation bill as presented by the governor was a balanced financial document, having taken into consideration the economic realities in Nigeria today.

“They agreed that the forecast and projections made be considered, which is a little above N480bn as appropriate for the 2019 financial year,” he said.

The speaker further noted that members of the house considered the report of the appropriation committee based on funding, observations and recommendations of the committee.

Ibani said that some of the requests identified by the committee showed that the estimated N480 billion could also take care of such requests during the implementation process. (NAN)