Oyebanji signs N113.6 billion 2023 budget into law

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji has signed the 2023 appropriation act of one hundred and thirteen billion, Six hundred million naira (N113,600,000,000) as passed by the State House of Assembly, commending the legislators for the robust and harmonious relationship between it and the executive arm of government.

Speaking shortly after signing the budget christened “Budget of Strong Beginning” at the Council Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti on Friday, Oyebanji expressed his appreciation to the people of the state for their overwhelming and unflinching support for his administration, noting that his first fiscal document in office was carefully crafted after due consultation with all relevant stakeholders in the drive to lay a solid foundation for his administration and achieve the desired prosperity for the people.

He expressed his profound gratitude to the legislators for their cohesiveness and for passing the 2023 appropriation bill in record time as well as doing thorough public opinion and legislative scrutiny of the bill before its final passage.

The Governor, who recalled that he presented the bill to the House on November 3, 2022, to afford the honourable members sufficient time to scrutinize the document and engage all the relevant stakeholders in a bid to abide by the Fiscal Sustainability Plan that ample time should be allowed for legislative processing of annual appropriation bill, emphasised the focus and vision of the administration to make the state a land of prosperity, peace and progress where the people can reap the fruit of their labour in dignity, good health and safety.

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He thanked the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) secretariat for providing technical support to the state in developing the latest NCOS template which will be used in the publication of the 2023 budget which is expected to be replicated in all the MDAs to further equip officers of the state for the implementation of the budget as well as ensure easy and seamless implementation of the fiscal document by the end users in view to meeting the disbursement link indicator.

While stating that the budget was designed to lay a strong foundation for the administration by leveraging the achievements of the past administration.

Governor Oyebanji disclosed that the breakdown of the budget would soon be officially presented to the members of the public by the Special Adviser on Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management.

He noted that the signing of the appropriation bill into law was the administration’s affirmation of its readiness to ensure fiscal discipline and effective implementation of the budget.

The Governor used the opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of his administration to further collaborate with development partners and donor agencies in the drive to hasten the development of the state.

Earlier, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Bunmi Adelugba commended the Governor for making the budget process people driven as recommended under State Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainable Programme (SFTAS).

The Speaker, who urged the Governor to ensure proper implementation of the appropriation law to the letter prayed for a robust economy that would assist the administration achieve success in driving the six pillars to the desired end.

She assured the Governor of the unflinching support of the House by making the desired impact on the lives of the people.