TheCable

Lucky Aiyedatiwa, acting governor of Ondo, has presented a sum of N384.5 billion as proposed budget for 2024 before the state house of assembly. 

Aiyedatiwa presented the 2024 budget, titled “Budget of Economic Resilience”, on Thursday at the state house of assembly in Akure, Ondo capital.

Aiyedatiwa said the 2024 budget was prepared on the projection of the 2024-2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) as required by the Ondo state fiscal responsibility law of 2017.

According to the breakdown of the budget, capital expenditure will take N211 billion while recurrent expenditure will gulp N173.5 billion.

The governor said the state proposed to spend N95.4bn (24.8 percent) on infrastructural development; N82.4bn (21.4 percent) on public finance; N47.7bn (12.4 percent) on education, and N29.8bn (7.8 percent) on health.

Aiyedatiwa noted that the infrastructural development sector had the highest budget proposal because the sector “will stimulate the economy in the next fiscal year”.

“The time is gone when the executive would sit in an office and come up with a budget document without inputs from those the budget is meant to serve,” he said.

“In continuation and consolidation of our citizens’ engagement drive, we initiated in 2018, stakeholders’ consultative meetings with the civil society groups, private sector, youths, women and vulnerable groups, our traditional rulers across the 18 LGAs were held and their inputs harvested into the 2024 budget being presented today.”

He noted that the objectives of the 2024 budget is to invest in human capital development; rejig independent revenue collection for attainment of financial resilience and sustainability; optimize resource inflow and expand fiscal space locally and globally.

He added that other objectives included expanding the scope and reach of social safety nets; developing agricultural value chain and stimulating rural economy, among others.

The acting governor urged all to work together to create an enduring economy for the state.

He added that the government is unwavering in its efforts to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people and make the state a reference point for developmental strides in Nigeria.