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  • Fiscal discipline is solution to concurrent budgets implementation

    Fiscal discipline is solution to concurrent budgets implementation

    Last week, the Senate of the National Assembly initiated the process of considering the proposal by Mr. President for the approval of concurrent capital budget implementation of the 2024 budget along with the 2025 budget. The issue of concurrent budget operation has been part of our national corporate culture for many years, before the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Therefore, concurrent budget implementation is a sign of the weight of legacy issues inherited by successive administrations. I believe that no responsible government will deliberately set out to implement concurrent capital budgets within a year. Therefore, I hope that the current administration will overcome the challenges and eradicate this legacy budgeting culture, amongst other challenges.  This is why, as my own civic duty and contribution to national development, on the 3rd of January, 2025, after the President presented the proposed 2025 Federal Government budget the National Assembly, I wrote on this Column a missive, titled; “Critical Success Factors for 2025 Budget”, in which I elucidated on some key factors to ensure that the 2025 budget is executed in a way and manner that is timely and effective. I will re-dimension some of them in today’s missive.

     Fiscal Discipline is crucial

    In my view, this recurring issue of concurrent budget implementation is largely due to a lack of fiscal discipline. In my view, Fiscal Discipline is one of the pillars for successful budget implementation, performance, and impacts. Therefore, fiscal discipline should begin from the stage of budget planning. It is at this point that we set our budget parameters and projections, for example, the projected global crude oil pricing, Nigeria’s crude oil throughput, and other variables. Projections are always impacted by global socio-economic dynamics, and or our internal socio-economic dynamics. Accordingly, I belong to the school of thought of being conservative with those numbers and parameters, even though the school of thought of being audacious with projections and parameters suggests that people will be put on their toes to deliver. However, as an apostle of “promise-based” leadership, I always prefer to under-promise and over-achieve, rather than to over-promise and under-achieve.

     More importantly, the world is facing one of the most unpredictable geopolitical and socio-economic dynamics in recent history, which could upset any economy that is not well hedged and reinfenced, or budgets that are not prepared with expected risks and shocks in mind. Moreover, the performance of a budget is directly proportional to the reality of the inflows and revenues that we are expecting, for instance, in Nigeria, Crude Oil output and sales, etc.

     Effective Policy Consultation and Policy Coordination

    In my view, the budget performance is also a function of budget execution quotient, policy consultation, and policy coordination. For instance, last week, the Honorable Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, received the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Shamsudeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, in his office. And one of the requests by the Honorable Minister was that the Accountant General should kindly expedite the payments for food and essential commodities supplied for the consumption of students at the unity schools across Nigeria, which is significantly affecting the students’ education. He stated that sometimes he had to delay the resumption of students to schools due to the unavailability of food for the students as a result of delayed payment to suppliers.  The Accountant General, in his response, stated the challenges with the budget system, which reflects on the cash flow and payment process flow of the government, and the need to evaluate the best system to use. This scenario speaks volumes about the lack of alignment of critical policies and cash flow, which is a subset of fiscal discipline.

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     I agree with the Accountant General of the Federation that there is a need for the federal government to agree on a budget system that is most suitable to our current socio-economic situation in Nigeria. In my view there should be a consensus between the Revenue generating entities, the enablers (cost centers), and the control and compliance groups of the government under the leadership of Mr. President, such that when if a budget system is adopted, all stakeholders, across all the arms of government will buy-in and move lockstep while implementing our budgets, with dashboard updates to all portfolio holders to know their budget performance status and also to know what to expect, so that they can be assured for keeping to core mandates as well as contractual and financial commitments, while they will be able to re-prioritize accordingly. This will also enable the Accountant General of the Federation to be more effective and efficient in supporting all Arms and MDAs (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) of the federal government. The Reports of the Auditor General of the Federation with regard to Budget implementation will ensure compliance with extant laws, regulations, and timelines, as they also provide the necessary guides for prudence and accountability.

     Budget Parameters Versus Cashflow Management

    Cashflow availability and/or backing, which is a function of revenue, and defined budget priorities, are other reasons why budget implementations of the previous year dovetail into the budget of the current year. If you plan your budget for an upcoming year and the projected/ expected revenues do not come in as expected, the Accountant General will have issues with managing the cash flow for the entire federal government. And I think those are some of the critical inhibiting factors to the successful implementation of our budgets.

     Regular Budget Performance Tracking and Review

    It is expected that at the beginning of each quarter of the year, and at the end of the quarter, there should be budget performance tracking that should be done by the Executive Arm of Government, if we are expecting challenges, then all MDAs are made aware are prepare to hedge appropriately, so as to ensure that there are no capital project clashes or slippages. The National Assembly is also supposed to take budget performance tracking very seriously from the point of view of oversight, which is also done by the various committees of the parliament. Budget performance tracking will enable the successful implementation of the current year’s budget, while it will also facilitate better budget planning for next year.

     In addition to budget performance tracking, reviews of the overall budget implementation and the social and economic impact assessments should be undertaken, not just by both the Executive and Legislative Arms of government, with the objective of eliminating this embarrassing national issue. This is so that, going forward, by 2026, we can put the issue of concurrent budget implementation behind us and be more sure-footed.  Otherwise, there are ripple concomitant effects of slippages of capital projects execution, and making the needed social and economic impacts

     Elimination of Budget Padding

    Another classic case of Fiscal Indiscipline is Budget Padding by the National Assembly. Hence, total stoppage of budget padding at federal and sub-national levels is another form of Fiscal indiscipline. For example, according to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in the 2021 budget, a budget padding of about N300 Billion was inserted in the Budget, while a budget padding of about N100 billion was inserted in the 2022 budget by MDAs. Budget Padding must be contained or eliminated, if we are serious as a nation. Otherwise, monies that should be invested and expended on critical projects will be ferreted away into corrupt pockets, while critical projects will continually be moved to next year, to the detriment of Nigeria and Nigerians.

     Political Will, Fight against corruption, and Consequence Management

    The government should consider impact assessments, especially social, economic impact assessments, as critical barometers to determine the progression or trajectory of our social or economic growth and development in this country.

     Part of the consequence of running concurrent capital budgets within the same year is the domino effect on the cost of capital projects and the cost of governance. For instance, if the government was supposed to execute a project for $10Billion last year, and the project is moved to this year, the project will likely be executed at the cost of $12.5billion or more, while clashing for funding with the targeted capital projects for the current year. So, if you amortize the cost implication on projects across all sectors, the ripple effect across the entire socio-economic value chain of the country will be enormous. Hence, the more we have avoidable capital budget implementation slippages, the more we will have concurrent budget implementation and consequently capital projects implementation delays and the attendant negative socio-economic costs and impacts.

     That is why political will is very crucial to ensure that there is zero tolerance for non-performance. If Government officials are dropping the ball, if they give me projections that are not correct, and/ or they have budget implementation quotients, there should be consequences. The officials who fail to deliver should be sacked or reprimanded. After all, while President Bola Tinubu is trying to cater to the needs of Nigerians, he faces opposition parties, cynics, and critics, while the weak links in the administration sit pretty with no consequences. This will only further promote non-performance, mediocrity, and corruption. Consequently, the good people and champions of the administration will become disillusioned, demotivated, and frustrated because the indolence of others will significantly dilute the overall performance of the administration. When examples are set that there is zero tolerance for non-performance, that is the only way we can go forward. Otherwise, things will continue to get worse.

  • Why Fed Govt is running three budgets simultaneously, by Budget Office

    Why Fed Govt is running three budgets simultaneously, by Budget Office

    The concurrent operation of three budgets is a deliberate strategy to ensure the delivery of appropriated capital projects, the Federal Government has said.

    Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, yesterday provided clarity on the multi-budget operations.

    The 2024 Appropriation Act, 2024 supplementary budget, and 2025 Appropriation Act are running simultaneously.

    The National Assembly this week extended the capital vote component of the 2024 budget till December 31.

    According to Yakubu, the development is not a sign of fiscal confusion but a deliberate response to real-world economic and administrative realities.

    Addressing public concerns over the overlapping fiscal instruments, Yakubu said that while the simultaneous operation of multiple budgets may appear unconventional, it is legally grounded and administratively necessary.

    “It reflects the real-world overlap between budget law, execution delays, and system-wide reform efforts,” Yakubu said.

    He said the concurrent implementation of budgets is not outside the bounds of national laws and conforms to global best practices.

    He outlined that the Finance Act, Appropriation Act clauses, and Central Bank of Nigeria’s circulars provide the legal basis for this coexistence by allowing rollover of capital releases across fiscal years; cash-flow bridging to support early implementation of new budgets; and parallel accounting for complex or externally-financed infrastructure and social programmes.

    He said: “This is not fiscal dysfunction—it is the transitional cost of trying to modernise a complex, high-volume national budget system.”

    He described the current situation as “institutional flexibility in managing fiscal transitions”, noting that the critical issue should not be the number of budgets being operated but the coordination and transparency in their execution.

    “What’s in operation now is a reforming system, not a chaotic one.

    “The 2025 budget is being implemented in earnest, while residuals from the 2024 and Supplementary Budgets are lawfully closed out and disbursed.

    “This is part of building a more agile and accountable public finance framework.

    “Nigeria’s overlapping budget operations are legal under current fiscal statutes, technically necessary due to multi-year projects and delayed implementation, and comparable to practices in other countries navigating budget reform and absorptive constraints,” Yakubu said.

    He explained that the 2024 Appropriation Act, which was signed by the President in January 2024, was valid until December 31, 2024, but it remains the primary legal framework for federal spending in 2024 and thus continued to be active, especially for capital projects, statutory obligations, and contracts tied to 2024 project codes.

    To bridge gaps that arose after the approval of the main budget, the Federal Government introduced a Supplementary Appropriation Act mid-year.

    Yakubu explained that the supplementary budget was necessary to address escalating security and humanitarian demands, revenue windfalls or reallocations, and emerging economic shocks and sectoral urgencies not accounted for in the main budget.

    He pointed out that such amendments are standard practice globally, pointing out that a supplementary budget amends or extends the main budget, running concurrently, not as a duplicate, but as a legal fiscal continuation.

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    Regarding the 2025 Appropriation Act, Yakubu noted that while it was signed before the end of 2024 to maintain the January to December budget cycle, its execution began alongside ongoing disbursements from the 2024 and supplementary budgets.

    He said: “The transition hasn’t been seamless. Execution of the 2025 budget coexists with unspent but already committed capital allocations from 2024, procurement delays and disbursement lags; and multi-year or donor-funded projects that legally span two or more fiscal years.

    “This situation is not unique to Nigeria. In India, Indonesia, and Kenya, similar overlaps occur as governments reconcile planning cycles with execution realities.”

    Our positions,  by experts

    Economic experts said there were underlying issues that could have caused the overlapping of budgets but called for reforms to align budget to a fiscal circle and feasible revenue profile.

    Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said capital budget has a long history of underperformance, which needs to be reversed.

    According to him, there were number of factors that could be responsible for budget extension including collapse of underlying revenue assumption and overambitious budgeting. 

     “First is possible collapse of the underlying revenue assumptions in successive budgets.  It is worthy of note that revenue performance in 2024 was far below target.  This could be as a result of the forward sales of crude oil as well as failure to achieve the oil production target which was about two million barrels per day.

    “There is also the possibility that the budget itself was ambitious.  It is also troubling that debt service obligations are increasingly taking a huge toll on the fiscal space. The rolling over of capital budget implementation is the outcome of this reality.

    “It’s perhaps time to reform the budget process to make our budgets more realistic.  Capital projects should be strictly aligned with the realistic capacity to fund them.

     “It is hoped that the tax reforms would accelerate the fiscal consolidation aspirations of government,” Yusuf said.

  • Beyond the big budgets

    Beyond the big budgets

    • By Ike Willie-Nwobu

    Sir: Nigerians are at that time of the year when budgets are flying around. In Enugu State, for example, the state governor has presented a budget of N971bn, the highest in the history of the state, to the State House of Assembly. In Sokoto State, the governor has presented a budget of N526.88bn to the state House of Assembly. As the year trickles to a close, more state assemblies are expected to receive budgets from the executive.

    It is an understatement to say that the heart of any country beats around its budget. Budgets are key public tools for governments to outline income and expenditure for the captured year. Every good budget tries to capture everything that needs attention. To be left out of the budget is to be exiled from the plan for a given year. Budgets also mirror the priority of their objects. A cursory glance at a budget should reveal the direction of its subject by illuminating the focus of its expenditure.

    Nigeria’s budget culture is middling at best. The practice is to draw up a budget which usually takes months and inputs by different offices of government, present it and, upon approval, which is often a matter of course, release funds.

    The trouble with budgets in Nigeria sets in once the funds have been released and monies begin to flow to contractors through different government agencies. It is precisely at that point that the challenges set in, with Nigeria’s notoriously high corruption levels doing the most damage. In a country used to shortcuts and kickbacks, the cuts typically begin from government offices with corrupt syndicates already entrenched in government offices ensuring that money leaves government coffers but is depleted before getting to the contractors who should do the jobs.

    Many of them also run front companies, which they manoeuvre to ensure they are in the queue for such contracts.

    For these contractors, the floodgates of no-show at all or shoddy jobs at best open once they receive these allocations. At the end of the day, Nigerians are left with extremely distressing situations of budgetary provisions and allocations but without commensurate performance.

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    Recently, rather than performing budgets, Nigerians have got used to padded budgets, a practice where the livewire of the country’s public expenditure is bloated with bogus projects by members of the executive and legislature with the sole purpose of diverting public funds and deceiving Nigerians.

    The startling effect of these dysfunctional budgets is the stifling underdevelopment witnessed in many aspects of Nigerian life today.

    Then, it must also be stressed that is never nearly enough to present large budgets to the legislature in ostentatious ceremonies. Beyond presentation, implementation must be monitored to the letter. What is at stake is not figures or facts, but the welfare and well-being of millions of Nigerians.

    Many Nigerians have been born, lived and died in a country that never really got to work. Countless Nigerians actually have had their lives brutally cut short by poor infrastructure, insecurity or poor healthcare directly traceable to poor implementation of the budget.

    To right these wrongs, to give those who have survived an opportunity to have and share a different experience, those who draw up these budgets must ensure that the figures and facts embedded in them actually translate to tangible impacts in the lives of Nigerians.

    •Ike Willie-Nwobu,

    Ikewilly9@gmail.com

  • NECA decries late passage of budgets

    THE Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has decried the delays in the passage of budgets.

    At a briefing in Lagos, its  Director-General, Mr. Timothy Olawale, described as disheartening the delays, noting that they were worrisome and had become major sources of concern to the private sector.

    Olawale said the importance of quick passage of budget could not be overemphasised, adding that budgets play a very critical role in economic development.

    He said: “Looking at the trend from 2014, the earliest time the budget was passed was in 2016 and that was in March. Nigeria’s fiscal year begins in January and ends in December; hence, we cannot begin to imagine the dire consequences of the late passage of the budget on national development and business growth.

    “In Ghana, for instance, the budget for the 2019 fiscal year was approved in November 2018; in Ethiopia, the budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year was approved few days before the commencement of the fiscal year in July 2018.

    ‘’Similarly in Egypt, the budget for their 2018-2019 fiscal year was approved about a month to the commencement of the fiscal year.

    “The stability and predictability of the budgetary process of these countries could be one of the reasons they are becoming the new desired destination for foreign investments,” Olawale said.

    On some of the adverse effects of late passage of the budget, he said: “For some years, the process leading to the approval and passing of budget has always been a victim of the proverbial fighting of two elephants.

    “A critical component of the budget, such as capital expenditure, which, to a large extent, plays a major role in economic development, suffers. Infrastructural reforms, which are meant to attract investments and improve the lives of the populace, are put on hold and business decisions, which could translate to expansion and employment generation frustrated.”

  • Katsina budgets N200b for 2019 fiscal year

    Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari yesterday presented an Appropriation Bill of N200.7 billion to the House of Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year.

    The estimate, tagged: Budget of Stabilisation, is lower than this year’s bill by N12.8 billion or 18.7 per cent, which stood at N211.4 billion.

    A breakdown shows that N148 billion or 73.7 per cent is earmarked for capital expenditure and N52.7 billion or 26.3 per cent for recurrent expenditure.

    For capital expenditure, N34.3 billion or 23 per cent will go for the Economic sector; N41.7 billion or 28 per cent for Social sector; N57.2 billion or 39 per cent for Regional Development and N5.9 billion or four per cent for Administration.

    Others are: N5.7 billion (4.1 per cent) for Debt Servicing, N984 million (0.6 per cent) for Judiciary; N515 million (0.3 per cent) for Legislature and N1.5 billion for Contingency.

    Recurrent expenditure has N22.9 billion (43 per cent) for Personnel Cost and N16.05 billion (30 per cent) for Overhead Cost.

    Presenting the appropriation to the Assembly, Masari said the Restoration Plan, which started at the beginning of the administration, will continue next year.

    The governor listed the priority sectors as education, health, water resources, agriculture, roads and environment.

    He said education will get N19 billion; health, N20.6 billion; water resources, N12.9 billion, while agriculture, roads and environment will get N10.5 billion, N20.2 billion and N24.6 billion.

    Masari added that a soft loan and grant from the Islamic Development Bank was in the offing.

    The governor said in anticipation of the loan, N9.3 billion had been reflected in the budget estimates.

    Speaker Abubakar Yahaya Kusada said the lawmakers would immediately begin sitting to deliberate on the appropriation for speedy passage.

    Kusada urged ministers, departments and agencies (MDAs) to cooperate by promptly availing themselves to defend their estimates when called upon to do so.

  • FG budgets  N3billion for disaster management 

    PRESIDENT  Muhammadu Buhari has approved N3billion for the control of emergency flood situations, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) stated yesterday.

    Its Director General Mustafa Maihaja spoke during presentation of reports carried out by stakeholders on oversight visits to all the affected states.

    Maihaja said: “The stakeholders committee were dispersed to kebbi,  Niger,  Kwara,  another group went to Edo,  Kogi,  another group visited Anambra, Delta and we have  other group who went to Benue,  Adamawa,  Bayelsa and finally the last group went to Rivers and  Bayelsa.

    “Presently the NEMA activation room has been activated, thereby collecting data for the government to know the exact water level.

    “I want to assure evacuation of Flood Victims has begun, especially in Kogi, Anambra, Delta and Niger.”

    The committee that embarked on the assessment, he added has confirmed the situation is really bad and worrisome.

     

  • Lagos House takes up councils over 2015, 2016 budgets

    As part of its efforts to ensure good governance and accountability at the grassroots, three standing committees of Lagos State House of Assembly are currently holding talks with officials of the 57 local councils in the state on the performance of 2015 Budget and their proposals for the 2016 Budget, reports Oziegbe Okoeki

    IN its quest to ensure a proper and seamless budget process in Lagos State, three standing committees of the Lagos State House of Assembly: committees on budget and economic planning, local government administration and public account (local), led by its joint chairman, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, have been holding interface and discussion sessions on 2015 and 2016 budgets with officials of the 57 local councils in the state at the Assembly complex.

    While shedding light on the ongoing interface with local government officials over the budget performance for 2015 and 2016 budget proposals, Olowo said it became inevitable in order to engender good governance, probity and accountability.

    Speaking on the basis of the meetings, Olowo said: “There is no way you can talk about budget for 2016 without talking about 2015 performance, because 2016 is predicated on 2015 performance. We look at what they have done vis-à-vis what is coming in from the Federation Account and from tax. And we look at their performance vis-à-vis what is the ratio of capital to overhead to give us an insight on whether they have actually added value to their respective local governments.”

    Besides, he said, the peculiarities and the challenges Nigeria is facing today, has also made it very compelling for state governments to be ingenious in the way and manner they disburse funds.

    “We are trying to look at what is the real income coming from statutory allocation and what proportion of that must be spent on capital expenditure because all these while, we appreciate that more money is going to the recurrent to the detriment of capital expenditure. And more so, that they are trying to be on the same page with the state government by adopting MTBF -Medium Term Budget Framework.

    “So, what we are trying to do from our end is that, okay, ab initio, what is the total liability standing against the account of the local government, be it recurrent or capital expenditure? And what proportion of that is budgeted for, because over time, we’ve come to appreciate the fact that the outstanding debt is so huge that they don’t pay and they will embark on new projects. That will only tell you that many projects will become moribund. But if certain proportion, let’s say between 20 and 25 per cent of their revenue after they must have taken off personnel cost, is earmarked to service outstanding debt, that means in two-three years, they will be able to pay all outstanding debts and then all those projects would have been completed as against those that have been abandoned over the years. That is tantamount to waste. Jobs given in 2000-2001 and nobody is paying for it, obviously the contractor will be away and when that project is not completed, that means initial payment made becomes waste. So, those are the things we are guiding against.”

    In his assessment of the 2015 budget performance, the lawmaker said the only funding was the major constrain.

    “You know personnel cost, Lagos State has said it that we don’t want to lay off staff, and we don’t want to rationalise. The bulk of the staff in local government, many of them are redundant, doing nothing. But then when you face the reality of the moment, you know you cannot do otherwise than to accommodate them. But you know that has implication on the revenue of the local government, so by and large they’ve not been able to do great job because of paucity of funds. But what we are looking at is that we want to make overtures to state government at ensuring that whatever is due to them is paid timely, so that they can use it for capital expenditure and we are going to tie all grant to purely capital expenditure, no grant should be used to pay overhead or pay personnel.

    Explaining in details the process of monitoring execution or implementation, he said “there is a committee we call local government administration, it sees to the day-to-day oversight of the local governments, then the public account (local) will use local government Auditor-Generals’ report, if there are any queries, based on that they will be called to the House and they will use that to admonish them and if need be punish them according to the extant law.

    The lawmaker who acknowledged that Lagosians expect so much from the government and the councils, was however quick to add that the Ambode-led government is doing his bits.

    “The intervention of the state is not going to be limited to construction of roads. Maybe at intervals any money accruing to the state in support of local government he will come up with that.”

    On what the joint committee is doing on the issue of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Olowu said, “without revenue, budget cannot perform and IGR is an integral part of that. We have told the local governments that their IGR must be on upward swing. We told many of them to go back and give us a workable IGR projection that will make them to work; because leakages have to be blocked; there must be accountability and we must have proof and be able to track the budget for assessment and evaluation,” he said.

  • Lagos to sustain zero deficit budgets in 2015

    Lagos to sustain zero deficit budgets in 2015

    Lagos State plans to achieve a zero deficit budget next year.

    Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget Mr. Ben Akabueze spoke yesterday during the sixth budget consultative forum held at Adeyemi Bero Hall, Alausa.

    He said the budget would maintain the same level as the 2014 budget.

    Akabueze explained that the projected budget would entrench sustainable government expenditure.

    He said the 2015 budget outlook for the state projected annual growth rate of 10 per cent would put the state’s GDP at over N19.992trillion by 2016.

    Special Adviser to the Governor on Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs. Iyabowale Aluko, said the forum was organised to carry stakeholders along in the budget process.

    She said besides enhancing better and effective communication and good understanding between the government and the citizens, it would also assist in identifying programmes and projects capable of impacting positively on the lives of citizens

    “There is also this desire to ensure that the 2015 budget effectively identifies spending priorities in line with aggregate resources, the implementation of which would ultimately transform the living standard of the citizens,” she said.

  • 2014 activities: NFF budgets N3.9bn

    2014 activities: NFF budgets N3.9bn

    It has emerged that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is budgeting to spend about N3.9bn for all its 2014 programmes.

    The federation is also planning to hold the association’s Annual General Meeting for August 26 or August 27 in Abuja. The event would take a huge part of the money being asked for.

    The sum is totally different from the N2.8bn budget they plan to spend on the 2014 World Cup alone.

    Secretary-General of the NFF, Musa Amadu, noted that if the money is approved it would cater for other national teams’ competitions, since that of the Super Eagles had been taken care of.

    “NFF’s events for 2014, as well as overhead costs and capital projects like the furnishing of its new secretariat and personnel matters will also be catered for in the main budget,” Amadu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    This year’s AGM would see another round of elections in the NFF for the next four years.

  • A budget for more

    A budget for more

    Oba Local Council Development Area, Lagos, has passed a budget of over N2 billion, which council chairman, Hon Ramota Adeyeri Oseni said is aimed at providing more infrastructure and welfare for residents of the area.

    The Oseni administration has tackled pressing challenges, some of which are roads, health facilities and school infrastructure among others. The council leadership rehabilitated the once problematic Oba Ayoka Road in Iba town as well as the Iba Estate Road. Drainages and culverts have been built in water-logged places, just as flood plain areas have been landscaped for appropriate infrastructural remedies. The health profile of the area was also boosted with the completion of public health centres at Ijagemo and Kemberi in addition to the provision of first aid boxes in all public schools in the development area.

    The administration equally moved to enhance sanitation and healthy living by building prototype public toilets in the area, with a borehole attached.

    Pupils are regularly assisted with free aids, including uniforms and classroom furniture in all 14 primary schools in the area. Every year, free GCE and JAMB forms are given to candidates who perform excellently in their school certificate exams. Also, four plots of land have been acquired for the building of a secondary school in the council.

    But, Hon. Oseni said that the “budget of consolidation”, as she called it, will be her financial instrument to further improve the living standards of the people in the LCDA in the 2014 fiscal year.

    Part of the expenditure estimates, she said, will be devoted to recruitment bills, overheads, personnel wages and school salaries, among others, but the LCDA chairman added that her administration is determined to do more for the people this year.