he Senate yesterday passed for the second reading a bill seeking to authorise the issuance of N1.48 trillion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for Rivers State’s 2025 budget.

The bill was presented to the chamber for consideration by Senate Leader and Ad hoc Committee on Emergency Rule in Rivers State Chairman, Opeyemi Bamidele, (APC, Ekiti Central).

The budget, targeted to create 6,000 jobs, is prioritising investment in critical sectors, including health, education and agriculture.

Some highlights indicate N324 billion for infrastructure; N166 billion for health; N75.6 billion for education; and N31.4 billion for agriculture.

A further breakdown has N287.3 billion for recurrent expenditure; N1.072 trillion for capital expenditure; and N120.8 billion for debt service.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, referred the budget to the committee for an additional legislative action and report back within two weeks.

And in a related development, the House of Representatives also passed through Second Reading the 2025 budget estimates of N1.481 trillion for Rivers state.

Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi, presented the report of the budget, which was subsequently passed and referred to the House Ad-hoc Committee on Rivers state for further legislative action.