Ibok Ibas to Defend Rivers ₦1.4tn 2025 Budget Before NASS

 Rivers State Administrator, Ibok Ete-Ibas, is set to defend the state’s proposed ₦1.4 trillion budget for 2025 before the National Assembly, following a directive requiring states to present their budgets for federal scrutiny.

The budget, presented by suspended Governor, Siminalayi Fubara to the Rivers State House of Assembly in December 2024, is the highest in the state’s history, reflecting ambitious plans to address infrastructure, education, and security challenges. Ibas’s appearance, scheduled for early June 2025, aims to justify the budget’s allocations and ensure compliance with federal fiscal guidelines.

The ₦1.4 trillion budget, tagged the “Budget of Inclusive Growth and Development,” allocates 60% to capital expenditure, focusing on projects like the Port Harcourt Ring Road, rural electrification, and healthcare upgrades. Recurrent expenditure, covering salaries and overheads, accounts for 40%, with provisions to clear backlog payments for civil servants. The budget’s size has raised eyebrows, given Rivers State’s economic challenges, including declining oil revenues and internal political tensions between Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike. Ibas is expected to address concerns about revenue projections, debt sustainability, and the feasibility of proposed projects.

The National Assembly’s oversight, a new requirement under the 2024 Fiscal Responsibility Act, has sparked debate about state autonomy, with some governors arguing it undermines federalism. Ibas has defended the budget as realistic, citing Rivers’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and federal allocations as key funding sources. The defense will be closely watched, given Rivers’ strategic importance as an oil-producing state and the ongoing political rivalry impacting its governance. The outcome could set a precedent for federal-state fiscal relations and influence budget implementation in Rivers.