Ekiti State Government has said that one of the major focus of the 2019 budget signed into law by the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday is to ensure the completion of all abandoned capital projects across the State in line with the four pillars of the administration.

The State Commissioner of Finance and Economic, Mr Dapo Kolawole, disclosed this on Friday, during a Budget Analysis session with the media and stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti. Kolawole said some new capital projects were also incorporated into the budget in order to promote sustainable and expansive economic development in the State.

The Finance Commissioner, citing earlier promise by Governor Fayemi on prompt payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, said the 2019 budget is structured in a way that spending on capital projects would not affect government’s plan for prompt payment of salaries of workers.

He also revealed that government was still owing contracts about N750 million on the newly built Governor’s Office that was commissioned with funfair in May last year by the immediate past administration. He, however said that the amount was captured in the 2019 budget, as government was not ready to owe any body regardless of who gave the contract.

Kolawole who noted that the four pillars of the administration will be the pillars of the budget stated that government has put in place implementation plans and operational approaches in order to ensure that the expected outcomes are achieved within the planned timeframe.

He added that the budget is tailored to improve the State’s IGR while closing monitoring same for the purpose of blocking all leakages of accruals.

While noting that the performance of the 2018 budget was 32% on capital expenditure, the commissioner said the 2019 budget has 56:44 recurrent capital ration in accordance with the Fiscal Sustainability Plan of the federal government as against 69:31 ration in the 2018 budget.

According to the breakdown analysis given by Kolawole, the 2019 budget whose size is N129,924,472,135.01 is to be funded from various sources including federal allocation which is expected to provide 29% of the funds, IGR and VAT, FAAC augmentation, ecological fund, World Bank’s IDEAS, external grants, State Fiscal Transparency Accountability Sustainability (SFTAS) and reimbursement on federal projects executed by the State, among others.

In line with the executive order abrogating payment of education levies, provision was made for grants to cater for schools while payment of gratuities which has not been made since2013 has also been provided for.

Four roads leading to Afao, the country home of former governor Ayodele Fayose have been marked for rehabilitation. These roads are Iworoko-Are-Afao road, Afao-Igbemo road, Afao-Ire road and Ado-Afao road.

Contractual obligations owed by the Fayose-led government to some contractors who handled ongoing and some completed projects such as Adebayo-Ori-Apata-Nova road were also catered for in the budget while the airport project also catered for in the budget will be driven by a public-private partnership arrangement.

18 secondary health facilities across the State will be renovated, a permanent clinic will be put in place at the State secretariat to cater for workers’ health needs while a surgical festival is in the pipeline.

The shortwave station of the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State located at Ifaki Ekiti will be resuscitated, according to the budget plan.

Perhaps as a way of forestalling a repeat of the failure of the State to make provision for its contingents at last year’s national sports festival, there is provision for the Sports Council in the 2019 budget.

Kolawole solicited the cooperation of all Ekiti indigenes in moving the State forward.

Present at the budget analysis were Secretary to the State Government, Mr Biodun Oyebanji; Director General, Office of Transformation and Service Delivery (OTSD), Prof Bolaji Aluko and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Yinka Oyebode, who coordinated the session.

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