Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has presented a budget of N267billion to the State House of Assembly for ratification and approval.
The presentation of the proposal tagged ‘Budget of Stabilisation’, was witnessed by people from all walks of life at the hallowed chamber of the Oyo State House of Assembly Secretariat, Agodi in Ibadan, the state capital.
Governor Ajimobi said the 2018 budget was carefully structured towards consolidating upon the gains of the previous years which he said could be very challenging.
The 2018 budget is N60billion greater than the 2017 budget of N207billion and N94billion higher than the 2016 budget of N173billion.
In essence, the government is expecting about N93billion from the Federation Account in 2018 compared to N69billion that was received in 2017.
The internally generated revenue for the coming year is projected at N112billion compared to 2017 projection of N107billion, as the increase in revenue is based on cost-effective revenue collection through the passage of relevant laws.
Total recurrent is also projected at N213billion while the capital receipts are estimated at N43billion compared to 2017 estimates of N183billion as recurrent and N24billion as capital receipts for 2017.
A breakdown of the 2018 budget revealed that recurrent expenditure is N118.37billion and capital expenditure is expected to gulp N149.1billion which is 55% of the entire budget.
More details from the budget indicate that the state government is putting a priority on education by strengthening the monitoring, supervision and inspection of teaching staff, as well as rolling out policies that will lead to better performances of students at national and International examinations.
Governor Ajimobi informed the lawmakers that necessary actions would be taken to curb environmental hazards associated with sanitation and street trading.
He added that government would provide more neighbourhood market and promote international standards to step down the trend of over-centralisation of social amenities which aggravate urban crises.
On government’s plans for agricultural development, the governor said they would procure sufficient mechanisation equipment which would be operated by the youths and women to enhance a leap of agricultural activities.
He said 3000 unemployed youths across the state would also benefit from the vocational skills acquisitions scheme with the provision of entrepreneurship starter pack.
In the area of sports, Ajimobi said the Lekan Salami Sports Complex Tartan track and the Astro-Turf would be rehabilitated while other stadia at Ogbomoso, Eruwa Igboora and Saki would benefit from a facelift package.
Other areas of concentration in the 2018 budget include solid minerals development, culture and tourism, as well as land and housing.
In his response, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Honourable Michael Adeyemo, said the budget would receive an accelerated hearing and passage.
