*promises 75 per cent budget performance
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Governor Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday, signed the Oyo state 2022 budget of N294.7billion and the Bill on Financial Autonomy for the House of Assembly into law.
Signing the budget christened ‘Budget of Growth and Opportunities,’ as well as the Financial autonomy bills into Law at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan, the governor disclosed that the budget represents the wishes of the people of the state.
According to the governor, his government will target 70 to 75 per cent performance for the 2022 budget, as well as will continue to make the budgetary process in the state open and transparent.
Governor Makinde stressed that the signing of the Financial Bill into law has confirmed that Oyo State is practising the principle of separation of powers between the three arms of government.
Emphasizing that with the increase in revenue, his administration will be able to fund the 2022 budget and record higher performance, the governor said, ” the total figure for our 2022 Budget of Growth and Opportunities is N294,704,535,356:94 as passed by the Oyo State House of Assembly”.
” I must use this opportunity to thank our Honourable members, especially Mr. Speaker, for the speedy passage of the budget proposal. So, today, I have just signed the Appropriation Bill into law. The document represents the wishes of the good people of Oyo state”, he said
Governor Makinde added, ” we started this budget process with town hall meetings in all the geo-political zones of our state. We got the input of stakeholders before deciding on how to appropriate our spending.So, we can rightly say it is our budget. As you know, it is one thing to pass a budget, it is more important to implement.”
“Before we came in, the previous administration recorded about 30 per cent performance but if you check the record, you will see that our budget performance was over 50 per cent. In 2021, we did better at over 60 per cent, which was about double of what was obtainable in the past. So, for this 2022 fiscal year, our target is a minimum of 70 -75 per cent performance.
“And you know that one thing that impacts budget performance is revenue. If you don’t have the money, you have nothing to spend.”The governor maintained that the state government was able to record an increase of over N15 billion in its Internally Generated Revenue, which represents a movement of the state from number 9 in 2018 to number 7th position.”
