By Adeola Badru

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Monday, assented to the 2021 Appropriation Bill of N268.8 billion with an assurance to fast-track infrastructural projects for benefit of the people during the period.

Signing the bill at the Governor’s Office executive council chambers in the presence of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Adebo Ogumdoyin, who presented it to him, along with principal officers of the assembly, Makinde said, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the nation, his administration would do its best to work with the budget to achieve its developmental goals.

The governor said it has become obvious that his government would have the financial document with which he could work and hit the ground in early 2021.

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Makinde said, with the budget tagged: “Budget of Continued Consolidation,” he execute projects and programmes in such a manner that they will be very impactful on the lives of the people.

“Today, we are signing into law our Budget of Continued Consolidation. This completes the first phase of the process for the 2021 fiscal year budgeting.”

“First, we got the good people of Oyo State involved in the budgeting process through the town hall meetings, then we prepared the budget and passed it on to the state’s House of Assembly for approval. After this signing, the real work of implementation begins.”

“As mentioned during my 2021 budget presentation before the House of Assembly that the 2020 budget had an above-average performance of 50.32% as of September 2020. Our aim was at least 70% but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic meltdown occasioned by the fall in oil prices affected the budget performance.”

“Having identified the reasons for this year’s performance, we are going to work harder and smarter next year to ensure that we meet our performance target of at least 70%.”

Commending members of the state’s House of Assembly for their diligence in ensuring that the bill was speedily considered, Makinde said: “I truly thank Mr Speaker and other members for being very diligent in the course of their duties in handling the Appropriation Bill.”

The budged was earlier trailed by alleged padding by the House of Assembly, which was later dismissed by the state government, saying there was no evidence to support the alleged padding.

The state government noted that the downward review of the N273.7 Billion Budget earlier approved by the House of Assembly to N268.8 billion only became imperative due to the need to achieve the fiscal sustainability of the budget.

It maintained that contrary to the insinuation in a section of the media that the budget was rejected by the Executive because the House of Assembly padded it to the tune of N7.1 Billion, the revision to N268.8 billion was aimed at enhancing overall budget performance.

Vanguard News Nigeria