By Okey Maduforo
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State on Tuesday presented a proposed budget of N606 billion for the 2025 fiscal year to the Anambra State House of Assembly.
In light of the state’s ongoing security challenges, N42 billion has been earmarked for security, reflecting a strategic commitment to combating insecurity effectively.
A breakdown of the security budget reveals that N1.2 billion was appropriated for 2024, while the allocation for 2025 has increased significantly to N2.7 billion. Furthermore, the governor’s security vote sees an upward adjustment from N17 billion in 2024 to N25 billion in 2025.
While presenting the budget, Governor Soludo remarked:
“On November 21, 2023, I was here to present the 2024 Anambra State Budget titled ‘Changing Gears: The Transformation Agenda Begins’, which you passed into law.
We proposed a modest budget of N410 billion for the fiscal year 2024, compared to N259 billion for 2023—an increase of approximately 57.8%. Recurrent expenditure accounted for N96.2 billion (23.46%), while capital expenditure totaled N313.9 billion (76.54%).”
For 2025, the proposed budget of N606,991,849,118 represents a 48% increase compared to 2024’s N410,132,225,272. The breakdown shows:
Recurrent expenditures: N139.5 billion (Year-on-Year growth of 45%).
Capital expenditure: N467.5 billion (Year-on-Year growth of 48.9%).
Capital Budget: 77% of the total budget, with recurrent expenditures accounting for 23%—maintaining the same ratios as in 2024.
The governor disclosed that the budget deficit is projected at N148.3 billion (24% of the budget), a reduction from 30% in the 2024 budget. He added:
“As with the 2024 budget, the deficit is expected to be addressed through revenue growth or borrowing from financial institutions. Notably, in both 2023 and 2024, we did not borrow to finance budget deficits. Depending on our execution in 2025, we may maintain this trend.”
Governor Soludo highlighted significant increases across key sectors:
Administrative sector: +45.5%.
Economic sector: +40.1%.
Judiciary sector: +51.3%.
Social sector: +82.7%.
Education: +101.4%.
Health: +57.1%.
Infrastructure investment: +38.9%.
This ambitious budget underscores the administration’s commitment to sustainable development and transformational growth across Anambra State.
