By Toba Adedeji, Osogbo
Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola yesterday presented N129,756,450,790 billion 2022 budget proposal to the House of Assembly.
This third budget Oyetola will present to the house since he began his administration in 2018 is higher than 2020 budget of N109.8billion by over N20billion.
The 2022 Appropriation Bill named: “Budget of Sustainable Development”, has N53,593,627,990 for Recurrent Expenditure, which represents 41.30 per cent, while the Total Capital Expenditure is N76,162,822,800, representing 58.70 per cent.
It showed that N26,609, 441, 740.00 was earmarked for Education; over N19billion for Infrastructure Sector; about N16billion for the Health Sector and about N7billion for the Agriculture Sector.
Oyetola promised to advance the state economy by providing a conducive living and working environment for the citizens.
He said the budget was aimed at further cementing and pursuing the policy thrust of his administration, and consolidating the achievements recorded in each sector of the economy.
The governor said because of the prevailing economic realities, the main focus of the budget would be an aggressive improvement of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) drive to ensure optimum performance in the coming years.
He said workable strategies have been put in place to boost the revenue of the state without putting an unnecessary burden on the residents.
Oyetola said general hospitals across the state would be rehabilitated, adding that the government would embark on construction of more roads next year.
“In line with our administration’s commitment to ensuring that there are no abandoned projects in the state, ongoing road projects are being worked on and will be delivered soon. Notable among these roads are the 17.5km Oba (Sir) Adesoji Aderemi (East bypass) Road; 30km Gbongan-Akoda Road; 40km Osogbo-Ikirun-Ilaodo-Kwara State Boundary Road, which is ongoing, as well as the complete rehabilitation of 30km Ilesa – Iperindo – Ipetu Ijesa Road.
“This administration has also embarked on construction and rehabilitation of roads across the state. While some have been completed, others are ongoing. Notable among them are the construction of 18.1km Osogbo – Kelebe – Iragbiji Road (including Orita Idiodan – Araromi – Anaye Mkt.); rehabilitation of 25.8km Ede (Army Barrack) – Ara – Ejigbo Township Road; construction of 0.68km flyover at Olaiya, Osogbo; rehabilitation of 1.3km Kuta Palace junction – Isale Oba Road – Asamu Junction Road; rehabilitation of 2.3km Iloro – Aganun – Division C Police Headquarter, Ile-Ife; reconstruction and completion of 8.1km Moro-Yakoyo-Ipetumodu-Asipa Road; rehabilitation of 2.6km Nike Gallery – Ido – Osun Township airport with palace spur; rehabilitation of 2.5km Ikirun – Eko-Ende Road; as well as the construction of 0.31km access road to Fountain University, Osogbo, which are ongoing.
“In a matter of days, work will begin on Lawyer Atanda Road in Iwo. For network of roads in Ikire and Ife, they are undergoing procurement process, while work has commenced on the Ila-Arandun-Kwara Boundary Road, to mention but a few. These are designed to aid ease of doing business, facilitate easy and smooth movement of citizens and help in the transportation of farm produce to urban markets. I want to assure the people of Osun that more notable road projects will be awarded as part of the government’s efforts to improve the socio-economic activities of the residents. This is also in furtherance of the current administration’s goal to deliver adequate, quality and equitable services to the people,” he said.
Oyetola further said: “We have laid important foundations for the development of our state’s economy over the past three years, with developments in infrastructure, security, environment and major improvements in the Ease of Doing Business and growing our Internally Generated Revenue.
“We must now focus on gearing up the momentum of building on the achievements so far, and by so doing, delivering accelerated economic growth and development for all.
“As a state, our vision of the future is clear. Our goal is to achieve inclusive socio-economic growth that is rooted in our 10-Year Osun Development Plan (2019-2028). Our plan rests on four developmental pillars: Economic Development, Infrastructure Development, Human Capital Development and Security, and Environmental Sustainability.
“To achieve this, we commit ourselves to deepen the foundation for revenue diversification and economic sustainability by focusing on Agriculture, Mining, ICT and Innovation, Culture and Tourism and Creative economy without neglecting other important sectors like Infrastructure, Water and Sanitation, Commerce and Industry, Education and Health.
“In a broader view, therefore, the central focus of our administration is to make Osun a prosperous state in a secure and sustainable environment through pragmatic, transparent, accountable and inclusive governance.”
On tourism, he said: “Another innovation of our administration is the conscious use of arts and culture to re-energise our state economy. In line with this, the state government has announced the wearing of ‘Adire Osun’, especially by exco members and other political functionaries in the state on Thursday of every week. The idea is to stimulate interest in the promotion of our culture, encourage others to embrace the idea to boost our local economy in the long run. Enumeration of local producers of ‘Adire Osun’ is ongoing. We intend to link producers with finance to boost production to match the expected surge in demand as a result of this policy pronouncement. This will be aided with the government intervention to open ‘Adire Osun’International Market in future.”
