Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde yesterday presented the 2023 budget proposal of N310 billion to the Oyo State House of Assembly, declaring that his administration remained determined to deliver good governance to the people of the state till the end of the tenure.
Makinde, who christened the 2023 budget as, ‘Budget of Sustainable Development’’, declared that the government’s aim was to prioritise capital projects it had already started, noting, however, that he hopes to continue engineering a modern Oyo State beyond 2023.
According to him, 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 had 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 representing 27.65 per cent of the budget proposal had 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, had 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 which is about 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 concessionary loan from the French Government, which 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.
“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.’’
