2025 Budget Speech By Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR.

19^th November 2024

Changing Gears 2.0 By

Chukwuma Charles SOLUDO, CFR

Governor, Anambra State

Being A Speech at the Presentation of the Draft Anambra State Budget Proposals for 2025 to the Anambra State House of Assembly; Awka: 19^{^th} November 2025

Protocol

Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, it gives me great pleasure to be here again to perform one of our constitutional duties, namely, to present the draft 2025 budget proposals for your kind consideration. Let me put on record that this honorable Assembly has been a very strong and progressive partner in our drive to lay solid foundations for Anambra as a livable and prosperous smart mega city. History will indeed be kind to this 8^th Assembly for your commitment, hard work, and productivity. I recall specifically that on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, I signed into law 11 landmark bills passed by this 8th Assembly, covering a wide range of issues for the transformation of Anambra State. I must also not forget the landmark Local Government Administration Law passed by this House which has laid the foundation for a transparent, accountable, developmental, and sustainable local government system in Anambra State. Ndi Anambra appreciate your progressivism.

On November 21, 2023, I was here to present the 2024 Anambra State Budget entitled “Changing Gears: The Transformation Agenda Begins”, which you passed into law. We presented a modest budget of N410 billion for the fiscal year 2024, compared to N259 billion for 2023, which reflects an increase of approximately 57.8%. Recurrent expenditure accounted for N96.2 billion (23.46%), while capital expenditure totaled N313.9 billion (76.54%). The budget deficit was estimated at N120.8 billion. As you are aware, the general macroeconomic conditions under which we had to implement the 2024 budget have been challenging, especially with the immediate consequences of the courageous removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the exchange rates. Inflation has continued in double digits, with significant pressures on costs of living and cost of governance. Our IGR has been grossly underperforming and as of October 2024, budget performance stood at about 50% pro rata, and we still have resisted the temptation to borrow.

Despite the macroeconomic challenges, we have remained focused on the ball—delivering on all the five fingers of the Solution Agenda: Security, Law & Order; Infrastructure and Economic Transformation; Human Capital and Social Agenda; Governance and Value System; and Environment. We are working hard, rejigging and strengthening our security architecture, and in some days and weeks to come, Ndi Anambra will fully experience our zero tolerance to criminality. Together as a people, we must bond together to defeat the criminals among us.
We have extended our free education policy up to Senior Secondary School Year 3 (SS3) and recruited an additional 3,115 teachers, bringing the total number of teachers recruited to 8,115. There can be no school of any sort—smart or otherwise without qualitative teachers, and we have rightly prioritized the competitive recruitment of the best teachers for our schools. We equipped 60 secondary school laboratories with the required STEM equipment. Furthermore, we have increased the operational budgets for both primary and secondary schools to ensure they can deliver the quality education we promised, among other initiatives. In the health sector, we continue to offer free antenatal and delivery services for pregnant women in the state with over 70,000 women as beneficiaries. The construction/modernization and equipment of 326 primary health centres are at advanced stages. A historic Trauma Centre is being constructed at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital. The Okpoko General Hospital has been completed and fully operational, and four other new general hospitals will soon be completed. As a proactive government, we have initiated the construction of the Coordinated Wholesale Centre at Oba, and the jinx will soon be broken. This is a crucial step towards eliminating the issues associated with open and unregulated drug markets in the state. To ensure our hospitals are properly equipped, we have begun renovating them and equipping primary healthcare facilities with the necessary solar power, boreholes, and medical equipment. Additionally, we have started the construction of a new nursing school in the state.

Building the capacity and empowering our youth to shape their own future remains our priority through the One Youth, Two Skills training program. The initial 5,000 graduates of the program are now entrepreneurs, and we have launched the second phase of training for 8,700 young people in the state across various skills, setting aside N2.5 billion Naira to support their start-up capital upon successful completion of their training. The Solution Innovation District (SID) has trained 20,000 youths in four major tech skills and recently graduated 1,500 youths in its Code Anambra Program. We are intentionally building the human capital of the future. We are constructing the iconic SID building—our very own Silicon Valley—where the next generation of tech giants will be nurtured.

In response to the ongoing economic hardship and in compliance with the Minimum Wage Law, our administration was one of the first states to announce and implement the new minimum wage. We have gone above and beyond by ensuring that the lowest-paid worker in the state receives a minimum take-home of N70,000 net, not gross. Additionally, as a government founded on the manifesto of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with a progressive ideal to “leave no one behind”, we have compassionately made a tax-free cash award of N10,000 per month to all pensioners in the state. This government prioritizes the welfare of workers and our pensioners.

Our palm and coconut revolution, along with our “Farm-to-Feed” programs, is in full swing. This year, in addition to distributing over one million palm and coconut seedlings to 130,000 households in the second phase of our initiative, we have also expanded our efforts to include some staple crops that are at risk of extinction. These include the distribution of 200,000 Ukwa seedlings, 50,000 Akilu seedlings, 50,000 Oji Igbo seedlings, and 40,000 pawpaw seedlings. Our goal is to distribute 10 million of these economically beneficial trees to communities and households over the next six years. This initiative serves as one of our key strategies in the sustainable fight against poverty and engineering a new agro-allied industrial revolution of the Dr. M.I. Okpara style.

Over 540 kilometers of roads are under construction, with approximately 310 kilometers already asphalted in 30 months, and with a quality that Anambra has not seen before. The Ekwulobia flyover and bus terminal are nearing completion. The dualization of the 34-kilometre federal highway from Amawbia through Agulu, Ekwulobia and Uga to the Imo State border as well as the dualization of 36 kilometres from Nwagu Agulu-Nnobi- Nnewi, Ozubulu to Okija linking to the Onitsha-Owerri highway is a game changer. These projects signal our bigger agenda to fundamentally transform our transport infrastructure as all Trunk A roads are planned for dualization, in addition to our Rail transport Masterplan. The construction of the link bridge at Aroma, connecting the two parts of Awka. We have broken the 33-year-old jinx of not having a befitting Government House and Governor’s Lodge in Awka: we expect to move within a few weeks. For the first time in decades, urban and rural water schemes are back!

Our vision to turn Anambra into a destination rather than a departure lounge is fully on course. The Solution Fun City, primed to be the biggest in West Africa, is quickly becoming a dream come true and will be commissioned in some weeks to come. Pilling work is on steroids for the 10-storey Marriott Hotel in Awka, while construction will soon begin in the 20 Hectare Awka City Leisure and Entertainment Park. Work is ongoing around Agulu Lake, and an international consultant will soon finalize the masterplans for the four Anambra’s historic tourist sites. Anambra is indeed one big construction site and Awka is gradually looking like a state capital. The list is long.

Mr. Speaker, Honourable members, let me now turn to the 2025 budget proposals. From the foregoing, it is evident that there is no stopping our consistent acceleration in a steadfast execution mode. For sure, 2025 is a governorship election year in Anambra State. Yes, while the politicians will be focusing on politics, we will be intensely and intentionally focusing 100% on the execution of our multi-faceted agenda with a deadline. Consequently, we have titled this budget: “Changing Gears 2.0” with emphasis on acceleration and execution.

The proposed budget size is N606,991,849,118 for the fiscal year 2025. Compared to the 2024 budget of N410,132,225,272, this represents a 48.0% increase. Recurrent expenditures account for N139.5 billion (YoY growth of 45.0%), while capital expenditure is N467.5 billion (YoY growth of 48.9%). The Capital Budget constitutes 77% of the total budget size, while recurrent expenditures account for 23% (the same ratios as for the 2024 budget). The budget deficit is estimated at N148.3 billion (24% of the budget compared to 30% in the 2024 budget). As in the 2024 budget, the deficit is expected to be funded through revenue growth or borrowing from financial institutions. So far in both 2023 and 2024, we did not borrow to finance budget deficits. Depending on the execution in 2025, we may still not borrow to fund the deficit. Relative to 2024, several key sectors are seeing significant increases: the administrative sector by 45.5%; the Economic sector by 40.1%; the Judiciary sector by 51.3%; the social sector by 82.7%; Education by 101.4%; Health by 57.1%; and Infrastructure investment by 38.9%.

We are building upon the iconic projects initiated in 2024 while introducing new ones. Infrastructure and economic transformation as well as Human Capital Development remain the kernel of this administration, and, significantly, at least 70% of the budget is allocated to these sectors. We are progressing the development of three new cities: Awka 2.0, Onitsha 2.0, and a new Industrial City. The Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City Master Plan and the railway master plan/feasibility study have been completed. Afreximbank and AFDB remain committed to supporting the development of the Industrial City. We will continue to enhance the Ease of Doing Business in Anambra to ensure the State becomes the preferred destination for investors. We recently concluded the second edition of the Anambra Investment Summit (ANinvest 2.0), where 10 elite companies signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs).

We plan to build the largest shopping mall in Africa and develop leisure centers throughout the State. Recently, we invested in equipment to enhance night landing capabilities at Chinua Achebe International Airport, and we will complete the unfinished business with respect to the airport. Anyone driving to the airport now can see the Solution Touch. We will also make investments in our mass transit systems and marine transport, including buses, jetties, and boats. Additionally, we will continue our efforts to extend power access to underserved communities. We have drafted a regulatory framework to encourage private sector investment in the Anambra Electricity Market, under the National Electricity Amendment Act of 2023. The Anambra State Electricity Policy and bill have been drafted and are currently under review by this Honourable House. We will keep expanding our water projects to ensure that every part of Anambra has access to clean water.

Our focus on human capital will continue, with education and health receiving the pre-eminent attention they deserve. Our goal remains to provide free and qualitative education for every child in Anambra, to enable them to succeed. We will maintain our free education policy and will continue to pay the newly agreed operational costs for schools. We are transforming twenty-two secondary schools into smart schools (with many more to follow in the new year), setting a standard for what an ideal school should be in Anambra. We will continue the aggressive upgrade of infrastructure in our primary schools through the ASUBEB program. Indeed, by 2025, we plan to make significant investments in education so that our students and teachers will smile like never before. We will also continue to support mission schools, especially the “returned mission schools”. So far, the government spends over N1.2 billion a month to pay the salaries of government teachers deployed to these “returned mission schools”, excluding the pensions of teachers that retired from these schools. These subsidies to mission schools help to reduce the cost of primary and secondary education to the parents in Anambra State. We have set up a committee headed by the SSG to work with the Missions to see in what other ways the government can assist, especially the returned schools within its resource constraints to ensure access to qualitative education to every child in Anambra state.

The needs of poor and vulnerable individuals are also addressed in this budget. More than 100,000 households will receive ten or more seedlings of coconut, palm, ukwa, pawpaw, soursop, and other crops per household as we did in 2024. We will also provide grants to micro-businesses across 326 wards in the state as part of our commitment to our Party mantra “Onye Aghana Nwanneya.” In 2025, we plan to expand our One-Youth-Two-Skills program to accommodate more youths and empower them accordingly. We are also establishing a One Million Digital Tribe, scaling our digital skill training program through the Solution Innovation District (SID).

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, I don’t want to bore you with all the details in the budget. The full document is available for your review. However, I would like to point out that the size of the budget is relatively small—in real terms (purchasing power) and even in US dollars, amounting to $357 million—when compared to ACTUAL EXPENDITURES as per audited accounts in previous years (2008: $517 million; 2013: $1.1 billion; 2014: $1.2 billion; 2015: $685 million and 2021: $329 million).

What is before you are budget estimates, and even if we execute it 100%, it will still be a fraction of what was spent in some years past. This is even more so given the humongous increases in the prices of basic inputs in construction and governance. Government vehicles have to be fueled at over N1000 per litre compared to less than N100 some years ago or cement which cost a few hundred Naira up to N3,000 a few years ago now costs about N10,000 per bag. Other inputs have increased by hundreds of percent, but revenue has not increased proportionately in nominal or real terms.

For us, there are no excuses or complaints. We applied for the job and must deliver dividends of democracy to our people in spite of all the constraints. So far, even with a fraction of resources available some years ago, we are determined to deliver multiples of results produced in years past. As stated in the 2024 budget speech, we will only borrow on two strict criteria: (a) it must be a concessionary loan, and (b) it must be allocated to projects with a clear plan for repayment in the future.

Funding the budget will remain a challenge. Frugality is our watchword, and our mantra is: “Doing More with Less”. Our government has been rated the number one state in fiscal transparency and top five in fiscal sustainability. We have cut the cost of governance to bare bones, and the unprecedented ratio of our recurrent to capital budget, 23% to 77% speaks volumes. The IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) segment remains our weakest link. Over the past few years, we have consistently performed significantly below our budget. In 2025, we have projected an average monthly revenue of N5 billion, which will result in a total IGR of N60 billion. Currently, we are averaging only N2.5 billion per month, which is well below the State’s capacity. In the coming weeks, there will be a renewed effort to strengthen our revenue generation capacity. One estimate suggests that Anambra should not be generating less than N10-15 billion monthly.

We hope to maximize strategic partnerships with the federal government, the international community, and the private sector/communities. We commend many communities and stakeholders in the Anambra project who are investing heavily in their communities—constructing roads, improving schools and hospitals, and co-funding security. Together, we will continue to build the big tent. To demonstrate our commitment to working with development partners, the State has allocated N5 billion as a counterpart fund in the budget.

Let me express our sincere appreciation to the members of the Solution Team, the esteemed members of the 8^th Assembly, the judiciary, the public/civil servants, teachers, our security agencies, and all stakeholders for their dedicated service to our homeland. I thank our community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, members of the private sector, the international community, the federal government, the media, NGOs, youths, women, and students, for your invaluable support. We will never take your contributions for granted. Your continuing support will be critical in implementing the 2025 budget. I want to assure you all that every kobo entrusted to us will be used judiciously to provide value to you. You have put your trust in us to serve you, and together with our Solution Team, we will continue to work tirelessly to fulfill that commitment.

Mr. Speaker, Honourable members, as I end this speech, let me remind us that this budget is not merely a set of figures and allocations; it represents your hopes, aspirations, and the collective vision for our future. Our agenda is fundamentally about shaping a better tomorrow not only for ourselves but also for the generations unborn. We are engaged in critical efforts that extend beyond our immediate needs and concerns. With this budget, we are laying the groundwork for a thriving and sustainable future for many generations to come. Let us join hands today, and as we look ahead to 2025, let us fully embrace the idea that we can and will achieve our goals together. The journey toward progress has only just begun, and I am excited to join hands with you to witness the remarkable transformation we can make as a united force.