Aregbesola budgets N197bn for 2015

 

The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday presented a budget of N197, 82,191,560.00bn for the 2015 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

According to a statement in Osogbo on Tuesday, the Permanent Secretary of the Office of Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Segun Olorunsogo, laid the budget before the lawmakers on behalf of the governor.

The governor said that the budget, tagged, “Budget of Renewed Hope,” was aimed at “consolidating on the various achievements and the progress made in the last four years to transform the state and as a policy thrust for the continuation of the good works of the administration, as outlined in the free book and summarised in the six-points integral action plan.”

The statement read, “The budget, according to the state government, is in compliance with the acceptable international standard and best practices, with the total budget of sum of N197,082,191,560.

“Revenue component of the budget is N131,741,905,500 while the capital expenditure is N65,340,286,060, totalling N197,080,191,560.”

Receiving the budget on behalf of the lawmakers, the Speaker, Mr. Najeem Salaam, said the Appropriation Bill would further deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

He called on the people of the state to be more patient with the state government on some issues involving finance. He explained that the financial challenges facing the state were due to paucity of fund as a result of the steady drop in the allocation from the Federation Account.

He promised that the lawmakers would look into the budget before approving it.

The 2015 budget of N197bn is a drop obviously due to the dwindling revenue from oil, as the governor presented N216bn for the 2014 fiscal year.

In the 2014 budget, N119bn which represented 55 per cent was earmarked for capital expenditure while recurrent expenditure was N97bn or 45 per cent.