Nigeria Content Online

Legislative
proceedings took a new dimension when praise singers stormed the
chambers of the Oyo State House of Assembly in company of Governor
Adebayo Alao-Akala who was there to present the 2011 budget before the
lawmakers.

Dressed in
different ‘aso ebi’ with megaphones of various noise intensity, the
praise singers struggled to outshine one another as they interjected
the governor’s speech intermittently to show their loyalty to him.

Christened a
‘budget of reality,’ the governor proposed a total of N144.1 billion
budget, with much attention on infrastructural development.

To demonstrate his
commitment to improved capital development in the state, the governor
proposed to commit 54.46 per cent of the total expenditure to capital
projects, adding that the state will focus on the completion of all the
ongoing projects across all sectors of its economy.

Under this, a sum
of N18.447 billion is proposed to go for road construction, expansion
and rehabilitation within the towns and across cities in the state.

While reviewing the
2010 fiscal year, Mr Alao-Akala said that despite the challenges faced
by his government in the year, he was able to deliver on his set goals
for the state.

“Much was achieved
in the area of infrastructural development, health, education and host
of others for the benefit of residents of the state,” he said. “The new
proposal is drawn to ensure consolidation on the achievements recorded
in the outgoing year, and was also tailored towards making the state
one of the biggest four economies in the country in the next five
years.” The governor said in order to achieve the dream, his government
is going to be more aggressive in its drive to improve internally
generated revenue (IGR) this year, as well as lay more emphasis on the
execution of projects with revenue-yielding potentials.

One of the major
highlights of the budget was the N800 million the state is earmarking
for the conduct of elections to local government councils in the 33
local government areas of the state.

Speedy budget passage

The state had
recently dissolved the governments in its local councils and appointed
caretaker chairmen to take charge in the interim.

The governor said
the money allocated will be used to construct zonal offices for the Oyo
State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), as well as train its
staff to ensure free and fair elections in the fiscal year.

Olawale Atilola,
speaker of the House of Assembly, in his remarks, appealed to the
Revenue Mobilisation Committee to increase the states’ allocations to
enable them deliver more of the dividends of democracy to the people.

He assured the
people of the state that the legislative arm will ensure that the
budget is given speedy passage, and also try their best to monitor its
implementation.

When they took turn to respond to the fiscal proposal, members of
the state’s House of Assembly only praised the governor without making
any useful contributions to the presentation.