IBADAN— GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has presented a budget proposal of N160.6 billion to the legislative arm of the state.

It is made up of N110 billion to be financed directly and N50.16 billion to be financed through loans.

While presenting the budget  tagged  “Budget of Restoration” to the members of the State House of Assembly, the governor said there was a decrease of 32.4 per cent when the N110 billion to be financed is compared with the N163 billion approved in the 2011 estimates.

The recurrent expenditure was estimated at N72.7 billion which represents 45.3 per cent and capital expenditure is to gulp N87.9 billion representing 54.7 per cent.

Like the previous ones, the presentation of the budget was an elaborate ceremony which was well attended by members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, party leaders, traditional rulers, top government officials and other stakeholders.

Governor Ajimobi said 2011 budget had its recurrent expenditure put at 76.4 per cent and 23.6 per cent for capital expenditure.

He said his administration had succeeded in  truncating the culture of bloated, unrealistic and unrealisable revenue projections that had been the hallmark of the state’s fiscal operations.

“Our analyses of budget performance in recent years have shown that the performance is low, this poor performance is acerbated by low spending on capital expenditure. No state that focuses on consumptive item can grow, which explains our undesirable state of affairs, which this administration inherited. If we want to break the vicious cycle of under-development, we have to take the bull by the horns to focus on capital expenditure that will be able to secure development that we are all craving for,” he said.

He further stated that his administration’s strategy was to increase the internally-generated revenue penetration by extending the tax net to those who were hitherto outside the net.

While stating that his government would soon request for legislative muscle from the Assembly on taxation and other sundry regulatory issues which were due for review, he also stressed the need to raise bond from the capital market, public-private sector participation, PPP, and other financing options to cover the financing of the N50.16 billion deficit.

The governor particularly said that the proposed bond issue would be used to finance specific flagship projects as well as some critical sectors, all of which would facilitate significant growth of the state’s economy, adding that a large proportion of the beneficiary projects would be self-financing.

According to him, the priority sectors include economy (49 per cent); social services (20.9 per cent); general administration (16.66 per cent) and regional development (13.1 per cent), pointing out that the heavy percentage of 70.39 of the total budget allocated to the economic and social services sectors underscored his administration’s determination to pursue a people-centered, employment-driven economic agenda.

Responding, the Speaker of the Assembly, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, said:  ‘We will support Your Excellency to fast-track the repositioning of this state for maximum positive impact on our people.”

She urged the executive arm to address the power problem by going into public-private partnership arrangement in power  generation.