By Adeyinka Adeniran
Oyo State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Musibau Babatunde, on Monday, said the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde has succeeded in improving the budget performance of the state, thereby making lives better and more meaningful for residents of the state.
He noted that the state government has implemented a budgeting system that is transparent, open and accountable; a development which he noted has led to a year-on-year improvement of the state’s budget performance.
Babatunde, who made this disclosure while featuring in the Omituntun 2.0 Inter-Ministerial Briefing held at the Governor’s Office Briefing Room, said the state’s budget performance improved from 57.4 per cent in 2019 to 71.4 per cent in 2024.
The Commissioner explained that the state’s revenue performance stood at 79.0 per cent in 2022, while the expenditure performance was 71.2, with the revenue performance peaking at 91.0 per cent in 2024, while the expenditure performance was 71.5.
Babatunde said that other achievements recorded by the Ministry included the development of Medium-Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) for the Implementation of Agenda 2040 for the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Health, Energy, Culture and Tourism and Agency for Solid Minerals in 2024 and the quarterly production of Performeter Bulletin, which evaluates budget performance of all Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs).
The Commissioner said that the Ministry was also able to facilitate the inauguration of the State Steering Committee and Technical Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation Implementation Strategy in Oyo State and the participation of Oyo State in the Fourteen Million dollars ($14,000,000.00) European Union-supported Sustainable Social Protection System in Nigeria Project.
Other achievements, according to the Commissioner, include the hosting of the implementation Monitoring Committee of the National Economic Council that visited the State to inspect her compliance with the National Economic Council’s resolutions, inauguration of the State Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group for the Production of Poverty Map for Oyo State and presentation of 2024 Citizens Budget to all relevant stakeholders in the State.
He added: “Our Ministry was also able to ensure the preparation and publication of the 2025 Annual Budget on the State’s website on 29th January, 2025; the preparation and production of the 2025 first Quarter (Q1) Budget Performance Reports (BPR) and hosting of the reports on the State’s Website on 28th April, 2025.
“We ensured the preparation and production of the 2025 Budget of all the thirty-three local governments in line with the National Charts of Account (NCoA) and hosted on the State’s website as part of the requirements of the Human Opportunities, Prosperity and Equity Governance (HOPE – GOV), resuscitated the State Budget Implementation Monitoring Committee to review MDAs monthly budgetary performance on revenue and expenditure.
“The Ministry also saw to the production and dissemination of Situation Analysis for Women and Children (SITAN) document in Oyo State and the production and dissemination of the Oyo State Multi-sectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition in the State 2025-2029 (OYMPAFN) document.”
While fielding questions from newsmen on how the state government has been able to ensure a level of consistency in budget performance, Prof Babatunde said: “We do budget performance reports.
“Here, we don’t do budget extensions. The time on the budget runs from January to December and that is it. For example, if a project is to run for 18 months and we start this year, whatever we have been able to do this year, we take it off the budget and put it in the next budgeting framework and that goes easily.
“If it is N100bn and we are able to execute N30bn of it, in the next budget, it is N70bn that will be there. We have a department of monitoring and evaluation and the Department of Budget actually coordinates the revenue that comes in. We publish it for people to know the MDAs’ performance.
“In Oyo State, we don’t disburse quarterly, we execute projects and programmes as they are coming in. Budget and economic planning goes beyond just throwing data and figures around. If you are not careful, things will not go well and budget performance will be very low.”
The Commissioner also told newsmen that contrary to insinuations, the state government is well on top of the situation with regards to the state’s debt profile.
