Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo on Friday signed into law the state budget of N310.4 billion barely 24 hours after the state lawmakers passed it.

Titled “Budget of Sustainable Development”, the budget was signed on Friday at the headquarters of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) in Saki Town, in Oke-Ogun zone.

The House of Assembly had on Thursday passed the state’s 2023 Appropriation Bill of N310.4 billion after a clause-by-clause consideration of items in the financial proposal.

The passed budget is about N432.5 million higher than the proposed N310 billion earlier sent to the lawmakers by Mr Makinde on November 3.

While signing the bill, the governor lauded the support and cooperation of the state legislature for its timely passage.

He said the budget would aid the completion of some of the ongoing projects in the state.

“Some of the projects we started would be completed in 2023.

“So, this is a budget that has N155.7 billion for recurrent expenditure and N154.8 billion for capital expenditure.

“You will notice that recurrent is slightly higher than the capital expenditure and this is because we are going into a transitional period,” he said.

Mr Makinde said that his administration “has increased the internally generated revenue to over N3.8 billion.

“When we talk about budget performance, since we came in, we have always performed well above 50 per cent.

“The signing of this budget in Saki is a testimony to the fact that in Oyo State, our economy across all our zones, is indeed an integrated economy,” he said.

In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Misbau  Babatunde, described the 2023 budget as “an inclusive one”, adding that the whole state made their inputs into it.

“We collated every input together and came up with a conclusion. We did not just allocate figures for the budget, it was a rigorous project that science, data and logic guided.

“The figure of the budget we are signing today is what will improve the welfare of the good people of Oyo State,” the commissioner said.

The approved budget comprises a capital expenditure of N154.8 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N155.7 billion.

Prior to the approval, the House Committee on Public Accounts, Finance and Appropriation, had presented its report on the state’s 2023 Appropriation Bill to the lawmakers, which was also adopted.

The third reading, which was read at the plenary by the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mustapha Akeem, representing Kajola constituency, took a careful clause-by-clause consideration of the bill by the lawmakers.

The lawmakers, while deliberating on the proposed budget, suggested certain amendments and concluded that the sum of N154.5 billion be changed and amended to N154.8 billion as final amendment for capital expenditure.

Highpoints of the budget as allocated were: Office of the Governor (N400 million); Oyo State Investment, Public and Private Partnership (N800 million) and Oyo State House of Assembly (N8 million).

Others included: Bureau of Public Procurement (N100 million) and Rural Electrification Board (N64 million).

(NAN)