The Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, on Tuesday presented a 2016 budget proposal of N165bn to the state House of Assembly.

He promised that the state would no longer rely solely on dwindling federal allocation after major reforms which would increase the state Internally Generated Revenue by 400 per cent.

Of the amount, N92.37bn, representing 55.98 per cent of the budget, would be spent on recurrent expenditure, while capital expenditure would consume N72.73b, representing 44.10 per cent of the budget.

While presenting the budget and analysing the performance of the state fiscal operations in the outgoing year, Ajimobi said the year 2015 had been particularly challenging for the state because of unprecedented negative development in the price of crude oil in the international market.

This he said resulted in consistent dwindling of national revenue with the resultant effect of substantial reduction in statutory allocation from the federation account.

Ajimobi added that there was the likelihood of a further slide next year and even beyond.

He said, “It is now evident that the state is in a situation where there is a sudden and significant reduction in revenue, without a corresponding decline in aggregate public expenditure.

“This has led to major distortions in our fiscal operations, as we are forced into rationing the paltry revenue available among unavoidable expenditure items.

“We have, however, remained steadfast in our resolve to minimise the negative impact of this situation on our people.”

While stating that the state would look inward to improve on the performance of its fiscal operations next year, the governor stated that the state would from next year generate N5bn monthly, instead of the present N1.2bn it generates.

In the analysis of the 2016 budget proposal, the governor said 54.85 per cent, representing N39.9bn of the amount, would be spent on the economic sector, with the social service sector gulping 18.63 per cent, amounting to N13.6b of the budget.

He said 11.17 per cent of the budget would go to urban and regional development while general administration would gulp N11.2bn or 15.85 per cent of the budget.

Listing the priorities of the state government in the coming year, the governor stated that all on-going projects in the state-owned schools would be completed with emphasis on technical and vocational training.

Source: Punch