Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has presented a proposal of N339bn as the 2021 Appropriation Bill before the members of the State House of Assembly.
The budget proposal comprises N162bn for recurrent expenditure and N177bn for various capital projects for the next fiscal year.
The governor christened it “Budget of Recovery and Sustainability” hinged on the ISEYA mantra of his administration.
He allocated a sum of N119bn as Internally Generated Revenues with N59bn expected from the federation account, while capital receipt was fixed at N142bn comprising internal and external loans including grants and aid.
According to Abiodun, the total overhead costs of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies was projected at N50bn for the next fiscal year, which represents an increase of N11bn from N39bn in 2020.
He added that the State had made a provision for the sum of N28.4bn for debt servicing in 2021, representing an increase of N13bn from N15.7bn in 2020.
Giving the breakdown of the 2021 proposal, he stated that education sector was allocated N58bn, while N75bn was proposed for economic affairs.
The governor said N49bn was to cater for general public services, while health would gulp N35bn, with housing and community amenities having N28bn allocation.
He said, “the proposed N339 billion expenditure comprises the recurrent of N162B and Capital of N177B. We have been able to achieve a 52 percent capital expenditure as dictated by best practices to drive our developmental objectives.
“Substantial part of the 2021 recurrent cost estimate is allocated to paying salaries and overheads in MDAs providing these critical public services.”
Abiodun further assured that the construction of the new legislative complex for the State lawmakers would commence next fiscal year to further aid legislative assignments.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, stated that the presentation being a constitutional requirement for all elected governors was in consonance with provisions of Section 121 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).