Osun state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Adesola Aregbesola presented his state's 2018 budget to the state House of Assembly on Thursday, Dec. 28
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| Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola (@raufaregbesola/Twitter) Osun state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Adesola Aregbesola presented his state's 2018 budget to the state House of Assembly on Thursday, Dec. 28.The budget, tagged 'Budget Of Enduring Legacy' was estimated at N173,980,083,007. The budget covers recurrent expenditure which is 49% of the total budget [N85,105,590,726] and capital expenditure which covers the remaining 51% [N88,874,492,281]. Aregbesola stated that the estimate was prepared to consolidate the successes recorded by his administration within the last seven years. According to Vanguard, Aregbesola said the budget is targeted towards completing all the ongoing projects across the state with a view to building on the existing development that has so far been achieved by his administration. He specifically mentioned that the administration will strive to complete the Oba Adesoji Aderemi Osogbo East Bypass Road. The governor who was remorseful in his remarks suggesting that his administration was only able to achieve just 42.885 per cent of the 2017 budget faults the economic downturn in terms of inadequate revenue as being responsible for the low performance. Aregbesola stated that the only alternative available towards the effective implementation of the 2018 budget is for the people to pay tax payment. The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Honourable Najeem Folasayo Salaam commended the governor for his commitment to the six-point integral action plan of his administration, saying the administration has successfully charted a new course of development for the state, beginning from intangibles to tangibles. Folasayo said the seal of the administration to youth empowerment, education, security, infrastructure development among others have placed the state on a high pedestal. Noting that though there are challenges, but all indicators showed that the administration has been successful, he said these were the basis upon which the parliament decided to support the executive having seen the passion of the governor to serve the people diligently. He acknowledged the state workforce for their support towards ensuring that the government achieved the successes recorded so far and further appealed to the workers to show more understanding with the government. The speaker then hinted that the budget would be diligently examined and given accelerated treatment with a view to ensuring that the administration leaves an enduring legacy as it presents its last budget. |