The Rivers State House of Assembly has given the state governor, Similaya Fubara, 48 hours to provide the 2025 budget to the legislature.
The lawmakers made the request during their meeting in Port Harcourt on Monday.
On January 2nd, Governor Fubara signed the ₦1.1 trillion 2025 budget after submitting it to MPs led by Victor Oko-Jumbo.
However, months later, the Supreme Court decided that Martin Amaewhule and his gang were legal Rivers State House of Assembly members, bringing an end to the house’s leadership dispute.
In their first meeting following the decision, the MPs requested that the governor submit the budget, which he had dubbed the “Budget of Inclusive Growth and Development.”
The Supreme Court also directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to suspend funds to Rivers State for breaching court orders. It also voided the state’s local government elections from last year.
In response, Fubara asked the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission to hold new local government elections.
“Furthermore, given the outlawing of caretaker arrangements in the local government system, I hereby direct the heads of local government administration to immediately take over the administration of the 23 local government councils pending the conduct of fresh elections by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission,” the governor said in a state broadcast on Sunday.
He also instructed the “outgoing local government chairmen to formally hand over the levers of power to the Heads of Local Government Administration by Monday, 3rd March 2025.”
