Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has presented the 2023 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly.

The Governor who stood before the lawmakers on Thursday presented a sum of Three hundred and ten billion naira (310bn).

During the presentation, Makinde said the appropriation bill is themed “Budget of Sustainable Development”

Addressing the House, Makinde said; “Three years ago, when we made our first low-budgetary information to you, we came with a budget that will support accelerated development in Oyo State. That budget required a huge investment in infrastructure that will quickly grow our economy. Our total capital budget for that year was over N100bn.

“In 2020, we returned with the 2021 budget of continued consolidation. In that budget, over N130bn was proposed for capital expenditure. Our goal then was to build on our plans for accelerated development.

“Then last year we moved from the Budget of Continued Consolidation to the 2022 Budget of Growth and Opportunities, and for the first time proposed capital expenditure of about 53% of our total budget was more than our capital expenditure. It was clear that we were moving in the right direction.

“In the last three years, every zone of Oyo State has been touched with a development project that reflects our focus on our four pillars of education, economy, healthcare and security. In education we have consistently maintained an 18-22% budgetary allocation”, he said.

Makinde also maintained that his administration has so far completed 56 model schools and also renovated and constructed over 700 classroom blocks across the state, while also paying the counterpart funding.

He said the IGR of the state has grown by over 90% without raising taxes on anybody.

“We did this through a partnership with the private sector and development agencies. We discovered that the only business the Oyo State Government got involved in is the business of providing a business-enabling environment for citizens and residents”, he said.

Infrastructure according to Governor Makinde, has received the largest chunk of his administration’s yearly budget allocation. He recounted the different road projects that have been delivered by the present administration.

According to Governor Makinde, the 2023 appropriation bill is premised on N83 billion naira as internally generated revenue and statutory allocation of 50 billion and VAT as N60 billion and other revenue streams.

Presenting the details of the 2023 proposal to the 9th Assembly, Makinde maintained that his administration would be prioritising all outstanding capital expenditure with a quota of over N154 billion (49% of the total budget proposal while N85billion was allocated to infrastructure from the capital expenditure.

Education which has the 2nd largest allocation has over 58billion (17.8% of the total budget), in alignment with the UNESCO standard.

Over N36billion was budgeted for healthcare in the proposed 2023 budget, while Agriculture got over N11billion.

Makinde has also promised to continue to deliver good governance to the people of Oyo State.

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