Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has presented what he christened “Budget of Economic Recovery” for Year 2024 to the state House of Assembly, in response to the current economic situation in the country. Kemi Olaitan reports
Every end of the year government at all levels especially at state and federal have continued to engage in the ritual of presenting budget estimates of incoming year to the various lawmaking houses for deliberation and approval.
And with year 2023 gradually coming to an end and humanity generally looking forward to year 2024, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State last Tuesday, presented the 2024 appropriation bill of N434,221,765,938.79, to members of the state House of Assembly presided over by the Speaker, Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, with top government functionaries, traditional rulers and political office holders, among others, in attendance.
Makinde presented the 2024 Appropriation Bill tagged Budget of Economic Recovery, to the state House of Assembly, noting that the budget is a chance for his administration to show its responsiveness to the current economic situation in the country.
According to him, with the 2024 Budget, the admistration has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that it addresses the economic challenges of the coming year and ensure that his vision of sustainable development in the state is achieved.
The governor, who lauded the House of Assembly for its cooperation with his administration over the past years, urged the lawmakers to speedily consider the 2024 Appropriation Bill with the total capital expenditure standing at N222,337,320,199.85 and total recurrent expenditure at N211,884,445,738.94, with education, infrastructure, health and agriculture sectors getting the lion share of the allocations, for passage for the benefit of the people of Oyo State.
Makinde said the capital expenditure is 2.4 per cent higher than the recurrent expenditure and the budget estimating an increased Internally Generated Revenue of N72 billion with an average of N6 billion monthly.
Education got the highest share of the budget N90, 664, 994, 252 (20.88 per cent), followed by infrastructure which got N74, 316, 325, 706 (17.11 per cent); health has N40, 998, 197, 758.30 (9.44 per cent) and agriculture got N15, 848, 707, 310.80 (3.65 per cent).
He said, “I am happy to come before you today to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill. This year’s presentation is special in two significant ways.
First, this is the first full budget presentation since our re-election into office in March 2023.
“This budget presents an opportunity for us to show how we are matching our promises as stated in our roadmap for sustainable development 2023-2027 with definite action plans.
“Second, this budget is a chance for our administration to show our responsiveness to the current economic head winds. You will agree that the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy and dollar-Naira currency by the federal government have brought hardship to our people. Therefore, this budget proposal will cover specific projects, policies, and actions that, when implemented, will cushion the impact of the economic issues that we are currently faced with.”
According to him, “it is against this backdrop that we have tagged this budget ‘Oyo State Budget of Economic Recovery’. It is my honor to present a total budget of N434,221,765,938.79. The total capital expenditure is N222,337,320,199.85 while the total recurrent expenditure is N211,884,445,738.94.
“What you will immediately notice is that we have been able to, once again, achieve a budget where capital expenditure is about 2.4 per cent higher than the recurrent expenditure. We believe that the growth of our economy is dependent on the fiscal decisions we take regarding our capital expenditure. Therefore, we are focusing on projects that will yield positive results for our economy in our areas of comparative advantage.”
Makinde explained that the budgetary allocation for education has remained consistent with his administration’s commitment to allocating over 20 per cent of the budget to the sector, a development for which it has continued to receive commendations for matching the UNESCO standard for budgetary allocation on Education. He added, however, that the government has also increased the sum allocated to education from N58 billion in 2023 to N90 billion in the 2024 Budget proposal to help reduce the infrastructure and manpower deficit in the sector.
The governor equally stated that his government’s commitment to building infrastructure that targets the economic expansion of the state will continue in 2024, noting that the government will continue the 110 kilometres Ibadan Circular Road project and other ongoing projects such as the Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho Road, the Olorunsogo-Akanran-Dagbolu Road, among others.
He maintained that apart from the Circular Road, the allocations have also been made for the rehabilitation of 16 roads and four bridges in the 2024 Budget Estimates, adding that the government is estimating an Internally Generated Revenue of N72 Billion at an average of N6 Billion per month.
Makinde also seized the opportunity of the budget presentation to reassure residents of Ibadan, the state capital, on the plan to construct internal roads within the metropolis, noting that the contract for the projects would be awarded within the next few days and contractors mobilised to sites on some of the inner roads.
The governor while speaking on the health sector, said the state government would go ahead with the upgrade and equipment of healthcare facilities with funds allocated in the budget, adding that the state government would also work with international organisations and development agencies to ensure that secondary and tertiary health care facilities receive the necessary attention in bringing them up to standard.
“Mr. Speaker and the Honourable members of the 10th Assembly, you will note the same marginal increase of about N4 billion in the allocation to agriculture. You will recall that we have initiated an input distribution package for our smallholder farmers under the SAfER initiative.
“We also work with the World Bank to provide input for our smallholder farmers under the Oyo State Cares programme. We plan to build on various interventions we have introduced to help them.
“At the same time, we will, in the next few months, be completing work on the Fashola Agribusiness Industrial hub. I am happy to report that the work done has further revealed the economic benefits of locating projects around our areas of comparative advantage. Because of this project, the Oyo Zone has been opened up for more business as this axis now hosts large and medium-scale agribusinesses. The Oyo-Iseyin road construction, which was commissioned in September 2023, is also driving businesses to this zone,” Makinde added.
In his remarks on the occasion, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Ogundoyin, while lauding Makinde for steps taken to rebuild the state under Omituntun 2.0, said the governor has set out a new order of transformation towards sustainable development in the state.
On his part, the state Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning and a Professor of Economics, Musibau Babatunde, while given a breakdown of the budget estimates last Friday in a parley with the Civil Society Organisations, disclosed that the 2024 Budget was prepared against the backdrop of continuing global and national economic challenges, noting that the government would execute the budget to bring about sustainable economic recovery in the state.
He said, “The budget indicates the commitment of the administration to economic reforms necessary for creating opportunities towards achieving economic recovery and also reflects government desires on sectoral allocations to reflate the economy, unlock private investment, stimulate effective demand, accelerate economic growth and achieve sustainable development.”
He noted, however, that the 2024 Budget would focus more on ongoing capital projects and programmes that would boost human capital, unlock the state’s economic potential through agriculture and agribusiness value chain, tourism and solid minerals development, as well as promotion of Public Private Partnership, among others.
The commissioner also gave an assurance that there would be control and enforcement on spending limits to ensure that a sound budgetary system is put in place to include aggregate fiscal discipline, efficiency and effective spending of the budget.
Commenting on the budget, an analyst, Mr. Adewale Babalola, noted that it would have meaning when it impacted on the lives of the people of the state. According to him, while the sectoral allocations are good especially that of education, the most important thing is implementation.
He said, “Governor Makinde deserves a pat on the back for allocating over 20 per cent of the budget to education, however it remains to be seen whether this would really impact the sector in terms of the implementation of the budget.”
