Enugu Assembly passes virement of N7 .1 billion

Moses Oyediran, Enugu

The Enugu state House of Assembly has passed into law the bill seeking to authorise the issuance and appropriation of N7, 185, 000.00 for capital and recurrent expenditure for the year ended December 31, 2019.

The law passed thus is to enable the executive transfer monies originally provided in the appropriation law from one ministry to the other as well as monies meant for one project to another.

Recall that Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi presented a budget appropriation of N109, 199, 243, 000.00 for the 2019 fiscal year. Explaining the merits of the bill, Leader of the House, Ikechukwu Ezeugwu, said that the bill does not alter the 2019 budget of over N109 billion.

“This does not alter the appropriation. What we are doing is to move money from one section to the other,” he said.

Explaining further, he said that N1.5 billion which was originally voted for the completion of the international conference centre was reduced to N7 billion, thereby saving about N800 million for other projects.

Ezeugwu said that the executive cannot spend any money without authorisation from the legislature, pointing out that “that was why the executive came to us.”

The bill was eventually passed into law with a motion moved by the member representing Ezeagu Local Government Constituency, Chima Obieze.

In a related development, the House also passed into law the law seeking to amend the law that established the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu to allow for a multi- campus status which it was originally designed before it was altered in 2004 which made a one campus university.

Before the passage of the bill, it generated controversy as some members wanted the university campus to be sited in their zones.