…Approves year 2022 promotion arrears for workers
By Adeyinka Adeniran
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has concluded plans to send a supplementary 2023 budgetary proposal of N42billion to the State House of Assembly.
The decision forms parts of the resolves reached during the weekly State Executive Council meeting which held at the Exco Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan on Monday.
Briefing the press on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Professor Musbau Babatunde said the state was compelled to forward a supplementary budget owing to the need to realign the budget of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in line with present macroeconomic fundamentals, exchange rate, interest rate shifts and other economic fluctuations.
He added that the alignment will efficiently reallocate idle funds and enable MDAs situate the year’s budget performance in line with current macroeconomic fundamentals.
He noted that, specifically, the executive arm will be requesting the State Assembly to approve an increase from the present 2023 approved budget of N310,432,500 to N352,282,500.
Babatunde stressed that the new budget when approved will still remain within the 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) of N355,172,953,914.
Similarly, he noted that the supplementary budget would help the state in the design of the 2024 budget factoring projected exchange and interest rate increases.
The commissioner further disclosed that the executive council approved the MTEF 2024-2026 to the tune of N424,410,611,938 which is a 19.4 percent increase from the 2023 MTEF.
On other decisions of the state executive council, Babatunde revealed the decision of government to establish the department of social protection in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
The department, he noted, will help in the implementation of social protection programmes in the state.
This is just as he said the state had approved the implementation of the State’s Social Policy document meant to reduce poverty and inequality.
Also speaking at the briefing, his counterpart at the Ministry of Information and Orientation, Mr Dotun Oyelade said the state is set to commence the third and fourth stages of the distribution of food relief packages to residents of the State under the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER).
Oyelade said the decision followed the completion of the first and second stages of the distribution of the SAfER packages to cushion effects of petrol subsidy removal on residents of the state.
He also at the briefing disclosed the government’s approval of promotion of all due civil and public servants for the year 2022.
According to Oyelade, 7, 276 workers are to benefit from the 2022 promotion, the development, he said is consistent with government commitment to workers’ welfare.
