Ogun State has become the model for industries, logistics, knowledge, and innovation as a result of the economic policies put in place by Governor Dapo Abiodun since 2019.
The state Commissioner for Finance and the Chief Economic Adviser to the governor, Mr Dapo Okubadejo, stated this at the official breakdown of the 2024 Appropriation Budget.
The N703 billion 2024 budget, christened: “Budget of Sustained Growth and Development,” already signed into law by Governor Abiodun, earmarked N415.6 billion for Capital Expenditure, while N287.3 billion was for Recurrent Expenditure.
Okubadejo, said that the Abiodun administration had been working in line with the Medium Term Economic Framework, MTEF, developed in 2020.
He said the government has continued to create enabling environment that made the Gateway State the most preferred investment destination in the country.
These policies, he said, have ensured that the state was declared the Most Improved and the Most Viable Economy in 2023.
The commissioner also stated that Ogun has been recording steady growth in the last four years. This growth, he added, has ensured an appreciable increase in the state’s budget size and performances.
He said this year’s budget of N703 billion was a tremendous increase when compared to the 2023 figure of N472 billion, which performance was 75 per cent by December 2023.
Okubadejo said the state’s target was to be economically and financially independent by de-emphasising reliance on monthly allocation from the federation account.
About N240 billion is expected to be raked in as Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, in 2024, the commissioner added.
At the briefing, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr Olaolu Olabimtan, presented provisions in the budget, while the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, the Commissioner for Transport, Mr Gbenga Dairo, the Commissioner for Works, Mr Ade Akinsanya, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Bolu Owotomo, and the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, gave summary of their respective ministries’ allocations as contained in the budget.
Works and Infrastructure Commissioner, Mr Akinsanya, said the government would resuscitate some of the abandoned road projects, while ongoing ones would be completed.
Akinsanya commended Abiodun for the work done on the Gateway International Agro Cargo Airport, Iperu-Remo, which recorded its first commercial operations, with two chartered flights that brought the governor and other state officials from Abuja after the judgment of the Supreme Court, that affirmed his 2023 election.
