Imoke Asks Legislature to Approve N800m from Fund for New Polytechnic Imoke Asks Legislature to Approve N800m from Fund for New Polytechnic
From: Diana Okon-Effiong, Calabar Gov. Liyel Imoke of Cross River wants the State House of Assembly to  approve N8000 million at the newly-established State... Imoke Asks Legislature to Approve N800m from Fund for New Polytechnic
Gov. Imoke...poised for an agrarian revolution in Cross Rivers State

Gov. Imoke

From: Diana Okon-Effiong, Calabar

Gov. Liyel Imoke of Cross River wants the State House of Assembly to  approve N8000 million at the newly-established State Polytechnic in Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area of the State.

The money is supposed to be sourced from State Reserve Fund for infrastructure development if approved.

This was conveyed in a letter SSG/GSA/S/300VOLXVI222 in September 2013 addressed to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Larry Odey.

Imoke said the fund would sustain the execution of on-going projects at the institution in order to meet accreditation requirements.

“Arising from the urgent need to sustain the execution of on-going projects at the Cross River State Polytechnic, Ugep to meet the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) requirements for accreditation and early take off of the institution.

“Following the dwindling finances of the state, particularly in recent months, it has become imperative to withdraw from the state reserve fund to complete these projects,’’ he said.

According to Imoke the state government had set up a reserve fund for emergencies and future uses in 2006.

He said that the state government had been contributing N50m to the reserve fund monthly while the 18 local government councils jointly contributed N18m  amounting to N816m annually.

Imoke said that the re-enactment of the reserve fund law No. 7 of 2011 gave room for withdrawal upon a concurrent approval by the State Executive Council and the State House of Assembly.

He said the state government had been intervening in the education sector, which and required the assembly’s approval to draw from the fund to support huge funding of education projects.

Imoke said government was poised to provide infrastructure at the polytechnic to meet with the NBTE requirements for its early accreditation and take-off.

He, however, explained that his administration was financially constrained to meet the obligation and resort for intervention from the reserve fund.

 

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