The Oyo State Government has given a breakdown and analysis of the proposed 2025 budget of N678,086,767,332.18 tagged “Budget of Economic Stabilisation.”
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Professor Musibau Babatunde, assured residents of the state that the 2025 Budget, when passed into law and approved, will cater to the improvement of their welfare and ensure the economic stability of the state, in a media parley held at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Finance.
Babatunde said the highlights of the budget are testament to the fiscal transparency and accountability of the Governor ‘Seyi Makinde-led administration, noting that the analysis was necessary to make adequate projections so that the state would not have an under-performed or over-performed budget.
The commissioner noted that the state government is going to implement a budget that will bring multiplier effects and substantial returns to the economy, more infrastructure and increased support for business owners, farmers, and all segments of the society, culminating in improved welfare for residents of the state.
He stated that the government used the bottom-top approach, which ensures inclusiveness, to prepare the budget as relevant stakeholders across the seven geopolitical zones were consulted and the interests of the people fully captured.
He said: “Already, at the office of SOCU, under the office of Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, we have been able to get the nod of the National Social Register to deepen and update our social register. It is ongoing as I speak to you.
“We can have a good leverage on the register so that by the time we are having our intervention to the people; it is those that really need the relief materials and packages that will get access to it. So, we have taken up a holistic framework in respect of the 2025 budget estimates.”
He mentioned that the second phase of the SMEs loans enjoyed by some people in the state, under the Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER) programme, will come up in 2025.
The commissioner disclosed that the government, having realised that more people want access to the loan, has noted the number of people it can support in 2025 and has streamlined the requirements so they will not be cumbersome, in order to cushion the effects of economic hardship on Oyo State residents.
Babatunde asserted that the ongoing rehabilitation of inner roads in Ibadan is ensuring ease of movement and reduction in the number of man-hours spent on transportation on intra and inter-town roads in the state, saying the rehabilitations will be extended to other zones so as to guarantee ease of doing business in Oyo State.
He noted: “In the wisdom of Governor Makinde, having realised the fact that he wants adequacy in terms of project completion, he established the Oyo State Project Monitoring and Performance Agency. Through this agency, we can monitor projects, check out the quality of those projects and the timely completion of those projects.
“We also have the Monitoring and Evaluation Department in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. People have been able to see how exactly we have been having our M and E in our budget implementation.”
The commissioner assured that the government will not increase the taxes but go after tax defaulters and also bring more people into the tax net with a view to improving revenue generation.
He noted that measures have also been put in place to monitor, control and enforce spending limits to ensure a sound budgetary system that will include aggregate fiscal discipline, efficiency and effective implementation of the budget.
Olusola Akintonde
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