By Dr. Ebuka Onyekwelu
Anambra State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, at plenary, passed the 2026 Anambra State Appropriation Bill into law.
During plenary on Tuesday, consideration of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation on the 2026 budget was contained in the House of Assembly order 10, for the Assembly’s business of the day. The report was then presented for consideration by the Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Ejike Okechukwu. This was then followed by a motion to resolve the House into the Committee of the Whole, by Hon. Ikenna Ofordeme, the Majority Leader of the House and the House of Assembly member representing Ekwusigo constituency.
Notably, the Anambra State Appropriation Bill presented by Governor Charles Soludo about one month ago was passed into law after it had gone through the various stages, up to the third reading, to become a law. Significantly, the budget was increased by about N8.4 billion, bringing the passed budget to a total sum of N766.3 billion from the original proposed sum of N757.8 billion.
A breakdown of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation reveals that the sum of N595.2 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure, while the sum of N169.6 billion was approved for recurrent expenditure for the 2026 fiscal year. The report also shows that there is a deficit of N225. 7 billion.
Some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies – MDAs, have their initial proposed estimates increased, while others have theirs reduced. The State Emergency Agency got an increment of about N180 million. Similarly, the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority – ACTDA, also got an increase of N400 million to the original budget of N600 million, making the total approved budget for ACTDA to increase to N1 billion. However, the sum of 15 million was removed from the Ministry of Economic Planning and added to the ICT Agency for the purchase of laptops. The original budget for the Head of Service was increased by N50 million.
Similarly, the original budget for the Office of the Governor was increased by N7 billion. The House of Assembly, the Ministry of Education, and others also saw an increase in their allocated budget.
The Committee’s report was unanimously adopted by the House of Assembly, after the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze reported progress from the Committee of the Whole. This was in line with a motion by Hon. Noble Igwe, the House of Assembly member representing Ogbaru 1, which Hon. Ikenna Ofordeme seconded. Thereafter, the Anambra State Draft Estimate for the 2026 fiscal year was read for the third time by the Clerk of the House and passed into law.
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