Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday laid before the House of Assembly N294.51 billion Appropriation Bill for 2022 fiscal year for consideration, projecting that in the fiscal year the government has plans to generate N79.8 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)..
Tagged “Budget of Growth and Opportunities”, the sum of N156 billion, representing 52.97 percent of the proposed budget, was proposed as capital expenditure while N138.5 billion, or 47.3 percent of the proposal, is proposed as recurrent expenditure..
A further analysis of the capital budget proposed showed that Infrastructure would get the highest sectoral allocation with N96.7 billion proposed budget, representing 32.83 percent, closelyfollowed by Education with N54.1 billion, accounting for 18.37 percent of the proposed budget.
Other sectoral allocations as proposed by the government include the sum of N17.4 billion, representing 5.9 percent of the proposal is meant for Healthcare, while Agriculturehas N11.4 billion in the budget proposal, which is 3.84 percent of the budget.
Makinde explained that in line with his administration’s tradition, Education sector’s proposed allocation remained high to ensure that the sector’s allocation is above the UNESCO’s standards.
Noting that the Executive adopted the principles of the Nigeria’s Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and other development aspirations as a guide in preparing the Appropriation Bill as was the case with the 2021 budget proposal, the Governor said in the fiscal year, his administration planned to raise the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N79.8 billion.
He explained that the revenue projection was a tall order but that the government was determined to meet the target without increasing taxes.
Makinde said: “As in the previous years, we will continue to expand our tax base to include more in the informal sector.
“We already see this working to our advantage as the recently released figures shows that our contributions to Nigeria’s Value Added Tax shot up to over N64 billion”, the governor added.
On the performance of his administration so far, the Governor said: “We have worked hard to ensure that infrastructure development is not restricted to just one zone of the state.
“In Education, we have continued to make investments at all levels. At the primary level, we completed 26 model schools across all the zones in the state.
“We built 57 classrooms, installed boreholes and improved the sanitary condition of the existing schools through the construction of toilets.
“We have also continued to improve the quality of education in Oyo State. We have not only recruited teachers as reported, but we have also trained them on best practices.
“In the Healthcare sector, we have continued to keep our promise of one Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in each ward in Oyo State. In the past year, we have completed the renovation, upgrading and equipping of 40 PHCs.
“Secondary healthcare facilities have not been left out as we continued to upgrade and rehabilitate the existing facilities to serve the good people of Oyo State.
“On Security, we have made provisions to recruit more Amotekun Corps members and we will continue to make an investment on technology that supports our security architecture in Oyo State”, the governor stressed.
Making further clarification on the state’s aggregate revenue in the current fiscal year, the governor said the state’s actual aggregate revenue so far stood N78.2 billion.
He said: “The sum of N16.2 billion representing 31.49 percent was realized as the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), while Statutory Allocation from the Federation Account Allocation Committee was N17.13 billion representing 62.29 percent.
While expressing his gratitude to all members of the Legislature for their support to the state government in the implementation of its policies and programmes, the governor urged the lawmakers to give the Appropriation Bill 2022 timely consideration and passage.
In his remarks, the Speaker, Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, promised the governor of the lawmakers’ readiness to prioritize the deliberations on the Bill and ensure its timely passage.
