By Adeola Badru
IBADAN-GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Monday presented a budget of N285 billion to the state’s House of Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year, out of which N100,535,047,409.14 (61.50%) was allocated to the economic sector.

Ajimobi, in his budget proposal tagged ‘Budget of Sustainability,’ described it as his last budget presentation, adding that the stability in governance has positively impacted the polity, not just with peaceful coexistence but also with a non-distracting and enabling operating environment for the transformation and repositioning of the state.

Oyo state governor, Abiola Ajimobi

He noted that his desire for good governance motivated him to improve on the infrastructural deficit existent in the state by embarking on an infrastructural revolution, which he said, was evident in the construction of networks of quality roads, dualisation of major roads including the entry and exit points into major towns across all the geo-political zones and the construction of the first flyover by a civilian administration.

In his presentation before the Assembly, the governor pointed out that the N285 billion budget proposed took into consideration the challenges in the outgoing year arising from almost complete reliance on Federal Allocation, which be said, has grave consequences as Federal Statutory Allocation itself was dependent on extraneous factors.

He added that more efforts shall be geared towards harnessing all available sources of internal revenue to the state.

“It is to be emphasized that capital receipt shall be ring-fenced in line with the Federal Governments’ fiscal sustainability plan. The preparation of this proposed Budget Estimates has therefore been as realistic as is practicable, to ensure a more pragmatic and productive performance in the budget implementation.”

While reviewing the 2018 budget performance, Ajimobi recalled: “At this point, I wish to give a brief insight into the performance of the State Budget in the months of January to September, 2018. Revenue performed was at 27.26% instead of 75% of approved budget and 36.34% on pro-rata as at September, 2018 while for the same period, expenditure performed at 25.24% instead of 75% on approved budget and 33.66% on pro-rata.”

“The 2018 figures show a decrease on prior year 2017 performances which were 46.95% and 62.63% on revenue and 46.09% and 61.46% on expenditure on approved and pro-rata estimates over the same period.”
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“The sum of N7.48b was spent on the Economic Sector, representing 51.22% of the total N14.59b expended for Capital Expenditure as at September of this fiscal year. This shows the continued priority attention we are giving to economic and infrastructural development. It is to be noted that the recurrent expenditure particularly on personnel cost is heavier.”

“This is due to the continued commitment to oiling Government machinery for effective service delivery. It is to be recalled that apart from consistently utilizing more than the stipulated minimum of all the recurrent intervention from the Federal Government to settle monthly salary/pension and arrears, the state government has consistently conceded 100% monthly allocation from the Federation Accounts to payment of salaries and pensions of the state’s public servants.”

Announcing sectoral allocations, Ajimobi said 100,535,047,409.14(61.50%) was allocated to the economic sector, while 49,349,775,475.10(30.19%) was set aside for the social sector.

Law/Justice and administration sectors gulped 672,500,00(0.41%) and 12,914,111,692.00(7.90) totalling 163,471,434,576.24.

In his remark, Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olagunju Ojo re-affirmed the the Assembly’s readiness to give the budget proposal an accelerated consideration, just as he commended the executive council for being worthy team players in the governance of the state.