The Oyo state government has earmarked N5.4 billion for phase 2 of its Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery programme.

The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Musibau Babatunde, disclosed this on Wednesday in Ibadan at the presentation of the 2025 Mid-Term Revenue and Expenditure Performance.

SAfER is an initiative programme of the state government introduced in 2023, to mitigate economic hardships faced by residents as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.

Mr. Babatunde said that the N5.4 billion would be deployed to support small and medium enterprises, as well as farmers focusing on livestock, fishery, poultry, and crop production in the state.

He added that part of the money would be expended on transportation and healthcare systems.

The commissioner stated that the implementation of SAfER Phase 2 would further enhance the lives of the state’s residents.

Speaking on the essence of the event, Babatunde explained that the presentation of the budget performance would provide a feedback mechanism on the challenges and opportunities of the budget.

He added that the budget performance presentation would provide an opportunity to assess the implementation of the 2025 budget across various ministries, agencies, and departments.

“During the last stakeholders’ budget meeting in 2024, held ahead of the 2025 Budget preparation, we had a request from the civil society organisations that it should not just be at the point of preparing for the budget that they would have inputs.

“They also want feedback on the budget performance across the various quarters of the implementation of the budget.

“The governor subsequently approved the request for a quarterly performance review of the budget, as further proof for his administration’s commitment to openness and transparency in the budget process,” he said.

The commissioner, while presenting the report on the implementation of the first and second quarters of the 2025 budget performance, said that the state had achieved about 80 percent of its revenue target.

“Also, in terms of expenditure, we have been able to do around 69 per cent of expenditure pro rata too. This shows the fact that the outlook is quite interesting. This actually doesn’t even include some of the approvals that the governor has given, but those ones will be covered and captured in quarter 3 of the 2025 budget implementation,” he stated.

Mr Babatunde further explained that, although there has been an increase in federal allocations and internally generated revenue, the state’s expenditures have also increased. 

He attributed this to the new minimum wage for workers, the mass recruitment of teachers, civil servants, and health workers, as well as the rising inflation costs in the country.

He stressed that the state’s budget outlook was good and that the increase in revenue had also culminated in increased spending aimed at improving the welfare of the residents. 

(NAN)