Osun State governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola on Monday signed the year 2020 budget into law, just as he promised its full implementation.
The budget was signed into law in his office shortly after it was formally presented to him by the Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Hon Timothy Owoeye.
The development came as the Speaker, Osun House of Assembly, Hon Owoeye, observed that it was the first time in the history of Osun that the budget for the next year will be completed and signed into law before the beginning of that year.
Describing the size of the budget as most realistic, Oyetola maintained that his administration would stop at nothing to ensure its full implementation, adding that government decided to prune down the size of the budget compared to the 2019 budget, having realised the socioeconomic realities and limited resources available to the state.
While commending the leadership and members of the State House of Assembly for a job well done, he promised to maintain the level of understanding and cooperation existing between the three arms of government in general and the legislature in particular.
Oyetola stated “I am particularly delighted we were able to conclude the presentation, passing and signing of the year 2020 budget before the end of the year 2019.
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“I must commend the leadership of the House of Assembly, the Speaker and other principal officers for ensuring smooth passage of the budget and for ensuring they look at the budget critically which is ready for signing today.”
“That is to show that we are ready to move the state forward come year 2020. We do believe in budget size that will enable us carry out proper implementation. That is the essence of what we are doing today.
“The 2019 budget which is coming to an end two days from now, was about N154billion, but we realised that we didn’t have too much of the revenue that we budgeted. So, we decided to trim down this year’s budget size to a size that we believe is realistic. And with it, we will be able to do a lot for our people within the limit of our resources.
“The budget size for the Year 2020 is N119.50 billion and we believe that, with that budget, a lot of things that we plan to do for 2020, we will be able to achieve them.
The way we went about the budget actually confirms that the leadership of the House is with us, particularly for the timely passage of the budget, unlike some states where there will be issues relating to budget size. We had gone through it together even before it was prepared, presented and signed.
“I thank the people of the state for believing in our government. The commendations we have received so far have been quite encouraging and I look forward for the same cooperation in the subsequent years, particularly in Year 2020”, Oyetola remarked.
Earlier in his presentation, the Speaker Osun House of Assembly, Hon Timothy Owoeye, who described the signing of the year 2020 Osun Appropriation Bill as unique, noted that this is the first time in the history of Osun that the budget for the next year will be completed before the beginning of that year.
Those in attendance during the signing of the budget included the deputy governor, Mr Benedict Alabi; Speaker, Osun House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye; Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr Charles Akinola; Deputy Chief of Staff (General Administration) Mikhail Adejare Adebisi; Head of Service, Dr Olowogboyega Oyebade; members of the House of Assembly, members of the State Executive Council, Permanent Secretaries and other top political and government functionaries.
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