The governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has said that no fewer than 203 inputs, representing 95 per cent of demands made at the citizens’ town hall meetings, held across the four divisions of the state, have been incorporated into the 2023 appropriation proposals.
The governor made this known on Wednesday, November 2, at the Treasury Board meeting, held at the Obas’ Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Prince Abiodun posited that the town hall meetings, apart from serving as avenues to reach out to more citizens to harness their inputs into the 2023 budget, also served as an important aspect in his administration’s inclusive governance in budget preparation.
The Ogun State helmsman further explained that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, was not meant to produce budget, but to help develop good policies through the retooling of budget, even as he emphasized that it was important to think of each stage of the budget process in terms of roles in developing and implementing the state policies.
Noting, however, that it is imperative that adequate funds are located to areas that would have direct impact on the socio-economic well-being of the people, the governor remarked that the 2023 budget is more important than the previous ones, as the state requires a holistic constitution of the people’s needs and judicious application of the limited resources to areas that bear on the welfare of the citizenry.
Prince Abiodun added that his administration would work to sustain all the developmental projects spread across the state, which have significant impact on the people, while all the ongoing projects would be given the desired attention towards completion.
The governor further stated that his administration had introduced the Medium Term Revenue Strategy, MTRS, which is an improvement from the traditional expenditure to revenue driven budget, by identifying and working on the major revenue generating agencies, with a view to enhancing and sustaining revenue mobilisation, collection and enforcement.
He said, “An important legacy of this administration is the establishment of best practices in the way of public finance management, which we are running. We aimed to consolidate on the global best practices in public financial management reforms that we embarked on since 2019.”
The governor maintained that “the state fiscal policy is based on providing the enabling business environment for private and public sectors partnership, through improving the efficiency and effectiveness of key processes, including: land administration, business registration, construction permit, land titling and the provision of key infrastructure and incentives to attract more investors to the state.”
Assuring that the 2023 budget would be all embracing, Abiodun submitted that his administration had internalized policies to ensure efficiency and value for government spending, as well as maintain an optimal balance in capital and recurrent expenditure; in order to achieve micro-economy stability and sustainable development.
In his welcome address, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Olaolu Olabimtan, said that the state was committed to a better atmosphere for businesses to thrive, while government would continue to deliver quality services to the people.
He said the Treasury Board meeting was to consider how much is needed, how to raise it, allocate and account for the funds, urging all stakeholders to be active participants in ensuring a budget that would be people-friendly.
The Economic Adviser to Governor Abiodun and Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Okuboyejo, in his remarks, said that the budget was meant to stimulate the post COVID-19 state economy by upscaling infrastructure and other sectors that would engender sustainable growth in the state.
Highlights of the meeting is the presentation by heads of ministries, agencies and departments, MDAs, of their budget estimates for 2023.
