Governor of Oyo State, ’Seyi Makinde, on Thursday, presented the 2023 Budget Proposal to the Oyo State House of Assembly, declaring that his administration remains determined to deliver good governance to the people of the state till the end of the tenure.

Makinde, who labeled the 2023 Budget as ‘Budget of Sustainable Development’, declared that the government’s aim is to prioritise capital projects it has already started, noting, however, that he hopes to continue engineering a modern Oyo State beyond 2023.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the governor presented the budget proposal of N310 billion at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, noting that the administration has succeeded in doubling the budget performance of the state since it took office in 2019.

The governor explained that N154,348,866,965.62 has been proposed as capital expenditure, representing 49.79 per cent of the total budget proposal, while the proposed recurrent expenditure which stands at 50,23 per cent amounts to N155,651,133,034.38.

He added that the sum of N85,737,487,258.97 (27.65 per cent) of the budget proposal has been allocated to infrastructure development, because the government recognises “infrastructure development as a sure path to accelerated development, and we are continuing in that stride for sustainable development.”

The Education sector, which got the second largest allocation, has a proposal of N58,213,981,267.87 (18.78 per cent), with the state maintaining its record of conforming to the UNESCO standards of 15-20 per cent budgetary allocation to the education sector.

The governor, who stated that N36,358,058,808 or 11.73 per cent of the total budget was proposed for the healthcare sector, explained that the reason for the 100 per cent increase over last year’s allocation to the health sector was due to the N22 billion (twenty-two billion) concessionary loan from the French Government, which it will use to upgrade primary and secondary healthcare facilities in the state.

A total sum of N11,198,004, 937.00 or 3.61 per cent was allocated to the agriculture sector.

The governor said: “So, with this budget, we are moving from accelerated to sustainable development. Sustainable development means that we aim to meet the needs of the good people of Oyo State on this side of the transition without compromising the ability of the next administration to meet their own needs.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, Honourable members of the Oyo State Ninth Assembly permit me to share with you the details of our 2023 budget proposal.

“This budget proposal is premised on the following revenue streams; proposed IGR of eighty-three billion, five hundred and four million, five hundred and eighty-four thousand, eight hundred and eighty-one naira, seventy-eight kobo (83,504,584,881.78).

“Our statutory allocation is capped at fifty billion Naira (50,000,000,000) while our VAT is capped at sixty billion Naira (60,000,000,000). We also have other revenue streams as contained in the detailed budget proposal.

“We have continued to use the tenets of the Federation’s Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) as a guide in preparing our budget.

“For this budget, we have continued to prioritise the four pillars of our Roadmap to Accelerated Development in Oyo State 2019-2023.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, Honourable Members of the House, we remain firm in our resolve to continue to deliver good governance to our people. We believe that this Budget of Sustainable Development is just what we need as we navigate the final days of our first tenure in office.”

Explaining how the administration has been able to move the people of the state from poverty to prosperity, touch all zones of the state with development projects that reflect its focus on the four pillars of Education, Economy, Healthcare, and Security, the governor said the government was able to complete 56 model schools and construct/renovate over 700 classroom blocks across Oyo State, among other projects.

Governor Makinde added that the state has also succeeded in growing its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by over 90 per cent through partnerships with the private sector and development agencies, noting that the state has gone from a monthly IGR of about N1.7 Billion in 2018 to a monthly average of about N3.3 Billion and N5.1 Billion with special items in 2022.

The governor equally said that the government was able to expand the economy of Oyo State over the last three budgets, as it chose to focus on the state's comparative advantage in agribusiness, stating that the state attracted private investments to the tune of over N26 Billion and 125 Million Dollars in development partners’ blended funds.

“Our pilot Agribusiness Industrial Hub at Fasola, Oyo West Local Government Area, is nearing completion. At the same time, we just signed a thirty-seven million dollars (37,000,000) investment in developing a Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Akinyele Local Government Area. We have 30 per cent of the budget for that project included in this 2023 budget proposal.

“We also concentrated on reducing our infrastructural deficit. Infrastructure has received the highest chunk of our budgetary allocation for the past three years. Today, we can say with pride that our dear state is interconnected through road construction and rehabilitation.

“From Ibadan to Iseyin through the 65km Moniya-Ijaiye-Iseyin Road; from Oyo to Iseyin through the 34.85km Oyo-Iseyin Road; From Iseyin to Ogbomoso through the 76.67km Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso Road and from Ibadan to Eruwa through the soon to be flagged-off 58km Omi Adio-Ido- Eruwa Road. We have also started the construction of the bridges and interchanges on the 32km East-Wing of the Ibadan Circular Road.

“We have delivered two of the proposed four bus terminals in Ibadan at Challenge and Ojoo. We have delivered the main bowl of the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasinbga. And I am delighted to report that for the first time in 28 years, we brought back international football to Ibadan when the Olympic Eagles played against Tanzania last Saturday. Of course, our Nigerian team made it more historic by winning two-zero against their opponents.

“Also, as promised in our 2019 budget presentation, we are well on our way to having one Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) per ward in Oyo State. As of the last count, 206 PHCs have been completely renovated, and we have already started equipping them.

“Secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities were not left out. So far, we have renovated and upgraded six secondary healthcare facilities at Tede, Ibadan, Saki, and Igbo-Ora, giving more of our people access to quality healthcare. I must mention the Renal Dialysis Centre at Ring Road State Hospital, Adeoyo, which can cater to nine patients simultaneously, and the soon-to-be-completed eye centre at Ogbomoso.

“The intervention at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH TH) includes the installation of a High Dependency Unit and other facilities.

“We also carried out several free health missions across the state. So far, we have reached over one million, three hundred thousand (1,300,000) of our people who are underserved with free medications, surgeries, eyeglasses, cataract extractions, and dental care. These health missions have been a major highlight of the year for our people, especially in the rural areas as they eagerly look forward to it.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, Honourable Members of the House, our security architecture in Oyo State, is wearing a new look. We have moved from hearing stories of farmers fleeing from their villages because of clashes with herdsmen to our farmers returning to their farms and increasing productivity. In the past three years, our farmers have increased the farm sizes for the top five crops in Oyo State by over 95,000 hectares.

“We operationalised the Oyo State arm of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun with 1,500 personnel. We are presently increasing that number by 500. We gave them operational vehicles – just recently, we handed an additional 100 vehicles in one go to them – and procured other necessary equipment for their use, including firearms, bulletproof vests, and communication equipment.

“We continued working with the Nigeria Police, Oyo State Command to secure our people. We have supported them with operational vehicles, communication gadgets, and welfare packages.

“We also ensured that our people benefited from 253 kilometres of the ‘Light-up Oyo’ project. You will agree with me that the ‘Light up Oyo’ project has certainly contributed its quota to the about 25 per cent drop in crime rate in Oyo State in the last three years," the governor added.

Also fielding questions from the lawmakers, the governor clarified that the counterpart fund for the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), which stood at three million Euros was already in the accounts of the state, while the administration takes the project through Due Process requirements before the contract award.

He also clarified that higher institutions in the state have been receiving 100 per cent of their subventions since the inauguration of his administration in 2019.

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