Oyo Assembly approves N208bn as 2017 budget

THE Oyo House of Assembly on Thursday passed the 2017 Appropriation bill of N208,654,111,854 into law.

The 2017 budget, which is an upward review of about 0.47 per cent from the initial sum of N207,671,485,300, presented by Governor Abiola Ajimobi on December 29, 2016, covers a recurrent expenditure of N127,574,719,832 and capital expenditure of N81,079,392,021.

This followed the Assembly’s consideration of the report presented by member, Committee on Public Accounts, Finance and Appropriation, Honourable Afeez Adeleke, on behalf of the Committee’s Chairperson, Honourable Bolanle Agbaje.

While presenting the report, Adeleke had decried that revenue generating ministries and agencies in 2016 experienced difficulties in accessing funds, especially running grants for monthly operations, which accounted for the state being able to achieve only 22.74 per cent out of its estimated revenue target of N72.74 billion.

He therefore urged government to provide necessary logistics for revenue generating organs to be able to boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue and reach the N4billion monthly target for the year.

The committee especially urged government to release 10 per cent of revenue generated by all revenue generating MDAs for them to effectively carry out their duties.

Among other recommendations, the appropriation committee urged Governor Abiola Ajimobi to constitute the Civil Service Commission, House of Assembly Service Commission, Local Government Service Commission, Teaching Service Commission, and State Universal Basic Education Board, owing to their importance to service of the state.

The approved sum shows that the state governor’s office was allocated N12,684,148,248 which covers a recurrent expenditure of N8,804,148,248 and capital expenditure of N3,880,000,000.
The legislature was allocated a total sum of N3,011,301,097 as N1,692,301,097 for recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure of N1,319,000,000.

A sum of N1,800,000,000 was approved for the Judiciary comprising a recurrent expenditure of N1,200,000,000 and capital expenditure of N600,000,000.

It would be recalled that Governor Ajimobi, while presenting the budget had said that governance in 2017 will focus on Infrastructure, Agriculture, Education, Industrialisation, Social Welfare and Employment generation.

In this light, a sum of N5,573,166,027 was approved for the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, while the Ministry of Works and Transport has N26,019,985,748 for its expenses.

A sum of N5,302,277,463 was allocated to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism was allotted N631,337,492.

While N27,986,633,060 was approved for teachers’ salary, N10,507,766,912 was approved for the State Pensions’ Board and N7,263,750,000 for local government staff pension board.

The Ministry of Health got N3,689,306,051 while N1,439,199,287 was allocated to the Agency for Youth Development.

Towards the expected local government election the sum of N1,900,000,000 was assigned to the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).