By Ola Ajayi
IBADAN—GOVERNOR Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State,  yesterday presented a budget prposal of N144.1 billion for the 2011 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly for approval.

The budget proposal which he christened budget of consolidation,  was presented to the legislative arm with many of the governor’s supporters in different attires singing his praises intermittently.

The proposed budge was slightly higher than that of 2010 which was N142,062,098,210 after being reviewed by the legislative arm.

Giving the breakdown of the budget, the governor said about N25,263,183,000 was allocated to the economic sector which consists of agricultural and rural development, livestock, forestry, fishery and transportation which had the lion share of N18.1 billion.
Policy guidelines
While reading the budget on the floor of the House which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Moruf Atilola,  Akala said about eight policy guidelines formed the basis of the preparation of the budget.

These, according to him, included a renewed vigour in the area of internally generated revenue in view of dwindling allocationsfrom the federation account, emphasis on the execution of projects which have revenue-yielding potentials, renewed and integrated effort towards the industrialization of the state thereby making the state the destination of choice for investors.

Other guidelines that gave birth to the preparation of the budget proposed, he noted included the sustenance of the gains already made in the area of poverty alleviation through the pursuit of more programmes geared towards skills acquisition and various economic empowerment programmes, a deliberate translation and concerted efforts geared towards the transformation of the entire road networks in the state and deliberate translation of our resources into budgets to enhance the quality of life through the provision of safe drinking water, immunization against child-killer diseases among others.

After presenting the budget speech to the House, a member of the legislative arm, Mr. Olalekan Ganiyu, from Oluyole State Constituency, advised the Governor to find means of increasing the IGR of the state and also hasten the completion of the ongoing projects.

Meanwhile, Governor Akala has described as toothless bulldogs his perceived opponents within the PDP who called on the National Working Committee of the PDP to act within seven days.

The Governor who spoke through his Special Adviser on Public Communications, Prince Dotun Oyelade, noted that issuing ineffective ultimatum only portrayed them as unserious especially as they had issued four similar threats in the past without any repercussion.

Dr. Lekan Balogun, a member of a group opposed to the current State Executive had  warned the NWC to resolve the crises within the PDP in the state or face dire consequences.

But the governor said that the issues in Oyo State had long been resolved and advised Senator Balogun to pick up the gubernatorial form and test his popularity during the January congress.

The intimidation to go to court or form a new political party, he noted, were only a way of deceiving the people because they had already made up their minds to join an existing party.

”Unfortunately, the statement said, they are going into their chosen party to disrupt them even further and compound their intra_party divisions and that the PDP is poised to receiving many opposition members who would abandon that party in droves, as a result of the alleged toxic presence of the impostors”, he said.