Priscilla Ofunre, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on Friday, presented the 2020 Appropriation Bill of N124, 724,869,355.95k to the State House of Assembly.
The budget which is christened ‘Budget of Deliverables’ has N53,538,093,806.59k representing 43% as capital expenditure while the recurrent expenditure is N71,186,775,549.36k representing 57% of the total budget estimate.
Governor Fayemi said the budget was tailored after his administration’s five-pillar agenda for development which is aimed at enhancing good governance and speedy economic transformation of the State.
According to the breakdown of the budget, the five pillars shows Agriculture and Rural Development with N3,677,992,233.29 (3%); Knowledge Economy N24,704,934,736.29 (20%); Social Investments N11,188,372,994.37 (9%), Infrastructure and Industrial Development N39,728,043,550.73 (32%), and Governance got N45,425,522,841.27 (36%).
The Governor said the proposed budget will provide a platform for the implementation of his administration’s cardinal objectives as covered in the five-pillar agenda; adding that the administration has not wavered from its determination to revamp the socio-economic environment through “distinctive measures and approaches which are conceptualized and aligned with the fiscal framework of the State”.
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He said the State budget system has been upgraded to conform with the global standard as the document transited from cash based budgeting to International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS).
“The administration has embarked on several laudable projects and programmes which will undoubtedly impact lives of the people of the State. Our numerous development partners who left the State as a result of the unconducive environment for partnership in the last administration are not only back but have signed pacts with our administration to develop Ekiti State.
For instance, major investors in the agriculture and industrial sectors have signed business pacts with the state government”, he said.
The Governor disclosed that part of the support gotten from development partners is the 1000km rural roads that will be constructed under the Rural Access and Agriculture Marketing Programme (RAAMP) of the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD).
The project which, according to him, would commence in January 2020 as soon as the financing arrangement is signed, would generate employment opportunities, provide reliable access and cost efficient transport system that will facilitate the delivery of agricultural inputs and services to increase productivity.
Fayemi disclosed the plan of his administration to establish a new special public works programme aimed at recruiting 1,000 youths who would be paid N20,000 monthly on rural-community projects, among other social investments. In his speech, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Funminiyi Afuye expressed optimism that the 2020 budget would bring economic prosperity and drive the development of all parts of the State.
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Hon. Afuye who assured that the Assembly would work on the budget proposal with a view to passing it into law before the end of 2019, commended Fayemi for judiciously managing the State’s economy despite the paucity of funds which the State is facing.
“I am supremely confident that year 2020 budget will sustain and improve the tempo of development in the State. I pray for political stability, industrial harmony and economic prosperity to be able to drive development to all the nooks and crannies of the State in the life of this budget and hence.
I want to assure Your Excellency that the House will work assiduously on the Appropriation Bill with a view to passing it into law before the end of the year”, the Speaker said.
