Imo State Government has proposed a total of N124,475,132,834 as budget for the 2011 fiscal year with the total recurrent revenue of N72,148,781,892 and total recurrent expenditure of N60,675,238,007. The budget was based on the assumption that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) would shore up to N24.2 billion in the proposed year.

State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, while presenting the budget before the State House of Assembly, Yesterday, believed that his government would achieve the budget to the fullest, considering the level of implementing the 2010 budget.

The features and highlights of the 2011 budget estimates which was tagged "Budget of Consolidation and Continuity" would anchor on eight-point policy direction: embargo on new projects; scaling down, continuation and/or completion of on-going projects; massive road rehabilitation in the 27 Local Governments of the State; good governance, transparency, accountability, efficiency and training in the teaching and civil service and total automation of processes. Others are total confrontation of the security problem in the state; and job creation/mass recruitment into government service, enhanced internally generated revenue.

The 2011 budget, according to the governor would be governed by the basic Macro-economic assumptions: Prudent management of the state resources; sustained improvement in the State's Monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); a benchmark price of US $63 per barrel of crude oil; Sustained peace in the Niger Delta and oil production level of 2.2m barrels per day; exchange rate of N150 to US Dollar; and 10 percent inflation rate and 15 percent interest rate.

According to the governor the 2011 Budget will extensively address the problem of extreme poverty which has continued to ravage our people. As you are aware, when this administration came into office in 2007, what was on ground can best be described as zero foundation. This challenging situation was characterized by absence of the relevant systems that foster good governance.

He added "There was no system of contract administration, there were no laws relevant for the pursuit of government activities, there was no defined system/approach for attracting investment, the Education system was a disaster as our own university and secondary schools were made to function without direction many contracts that failed in the past are being addressed".

"Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, I want to state that the three and half years we have so far operated in Imo State have been very challenging and rewarding. Challenging because of the zero foundation we met on ground as captured above and at the same time rewarding because from every indication, this administration has recorded very remarkable achievements to reverse the trend. I am happy to state that no contract has failed since the inception of this administration.

Ohakim, observed that although the global economy has been in bad shape and Imo State being a part of Nigeria is not insulated from the poor state of affairs, this administration has continued to weather the storm and take giant strides to leverage the State's economy from all angles.

The total projected Recurrent Revenue for 2011 from all sources is N72,148,782,892 while the Total Recurrent Expenditure Projection is N60,675,238,007.