By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Oyo State Governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, is planning to seek the approval of the state parliament to increase the size of the 2023 budget by N42 billion.
The Oyo State House of Assembly had passed the 2023 Appropriation Act of N310.4 billion but less than three months to its expiration, Mr Makinde intends to increase this to N352.4 billion.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Musibau Babatunde, said the state executive council gave the Governor the approval to raise the year’s budget size due to the subsidy removal policy of the federal government and the unification of exchange rate policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
They agreed that these twin policies have had a negative impact on the state.
The Commissioner noted that requests by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) on the need to situate their current budget performance in the context of the shift in macroeconomic fundamentals necessitated the new development.
Mr Babatunde said idle funds in some MDAs have been realigned in line with the current economic realities, noting that the state government is currently negotiating with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
He further disclosed that the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (2024-2026) on which the 2024 budget will be premised has been approved by the exco for N424.4 billion, 19.49 per cent or N69.2 billion higher than the 2023 pre-empted figure of N355.2 billion.
According to him, “We expect the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to be a good guide for the fiscal balance of the year 2024 budget.”
Meanwhile, the Governor has approved the promotion of all civil and public servants, about 7,276, whose promotions were due in 2022.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Dotun Oyelade, said the development was consistent with government policy on workers’ welfare in the past four years.
