Oyo State Governor presents 2022 Budget Proposal to House of Assembly
Olubunmi Osoteku, Ibadan.
The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has presented a N294,515,445,107 Appropriation Bill for the 2022 Fiscal Year to the State House of Assembly.
The Budget, christened “Budget of Growth and Opportunity”, is about N24.8 billion lower than that of 2021, which stood at N318.8 billion.
The presentation was held on Tuesday at the Hallowed Chambers of the State House of Assembly, with top government functionaries, traditional rulers, religious leaders and community leaders, among other relevant stakeholders, in attendance.
While the allocation for capital expenditure stands at N156 billion (52.97 percent) of the Budget, the recurrent expenditure was put at slightly above N138.5 billion (47.3 percent).
In the estimate, Infrastructure got the highest allocation with N96.7 billion, representing 32.83 percent of the Budget, followed by Education, which got N54.1 billion (18.37%); Health, N17.4billion (5.9%) and Agriculture, which got N11.3billion (3.84 percent of the Budget).
In his speech, Governor Makinde revealed that in keeping with tradition in the last two years, his administration again embarked on Townhall meetings on the 2022 Budget giving stakeholders the opportunity to contribute towards the direction of the Budget, noting that the people have again spoken and the Budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year was prepared based on their feedback.
“I have the honour of presenting to the House this N294,516,445,107.00 as the 2022 Budget Proposal.
“As stated earlier, this is a Budget of Growth and Opportunities. Growth, as we inject N156,000,136,971.00 into our economy through investments in infrastructure and ensuring that our people have higher purchasing power.
“For the first time, our proposed capital expenditure at 52.97% is more than our recurrent expenditure,” Governor Makinde stated.
He said a major project that would be carried out in the year 2022 is the 110KM Ibadan Circular Road (ICR) project, noting that the tolled road would be a major economic boost as it would create an alternate entry and exit point out of Ibadan and connect the new economic corridor and business district being built at Moniya, Ibadan.
The Governor asserted that his administration has continued to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, opening doors to both local and foreign investors in agribusiness, tourism and other sectors.
“Of course, we have maintained a lower recurrent expenditure-to-capital expenditure ratio.
“For the 2022 Fiscal Year, our recurrent expenditure is N138,516,308,136.00. This represents 47.3% of our total Budget,” Makinde disclosed.
Speaking on the 2021 Budget performance, which he said stood at 60 percent and with a hope of raising it to 75 percent before year-end, the governor put the State’s actual aggregate revenue at N78.2 billion.
He added that the sum of N16.2 billion representing 31.49 percent was realized as the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) while Statutory Allocation from the Federation Account Allocation Committee was N17.13 billion, representing 62.29%.
In his speech at the Budget presentation, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, reaffirmed the commitment of the House to collaborating with the governor for the progress of the State and appealed to the governor to speedily give assent to the Legislative Fund Management Law that would grant financial autonomy to the legislative arm of government.