Governor Abiodun signs N703 Billion 2024 budget into law

Ogun state Governor, Dapo Abiodun has passed into law the Year 2024 appropriation bill.

The budget christened, “the Budget of Sustained Growth and Development was assented to by the governor on Friday after it was presented to him by the speaker of the house of assembly, Rt. Hon. Olakunle Oluomo in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

The governor had presented the budget with an estimate of N703.028BN to the house of assembly on November 30.

Signing the bill into law, Governor Abiodun noted that the 2024 budget is the highest in the history of the state.

He stated that the passage of the budget is another testament of the administration’s commitment to the development of the people and the state.

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The governor commended the lawmakers for subjecting the budget to thorough examination and speedy passage.

“I want to thank the speaker, the house committee on appropriation, the entire member of the Ogun state house of assembly, today is a day short of 30 days after we submitted this proposal and in between then we have had public holidays, weekends, the house has denied itself any of those breaks, they have worked very hard and tiredlessly, they were irrevocably and resolutely committed to ensuring that this budget was indeed subjected to thorough examination, they went on budget retreat immediately…”

“In line with their promise and commitment to ensure that this budget is passed on or before the last working day of this year to allow us hit the ground running from January 1st, 2024.”

He also disclosed that the state government has been able to meet up with a minimum of 70% budget implementation over the years.

“Year after after year we have successfully implemented our budget to the tune of a minimum of 70% budget implementation. The economy of this state has continue to grow in size. We have been accorded the rightful place as the state with the most improved economy in Nigeria, fastest growing economy in the country, one of the two states whose IGR exceeds its federal allocation.”

Speaking earlier, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olakunle Oluomo who led other principal officers of the assembly to the Governor’s office said the lawmakers passed the budget after almost a month of rigorous exercise.

“Recall that the budget was presented to the house on Nov. 30 this year after almost one month of rigorous exercise in the house which includes budget retreat, budget defense and committee work that we did in the last 30 days including working on a public holiday.”

He explained that the quick passage of the budget was to meet up with the January 1st target in line with international best practice.

In his address to the lawmaker during the budget presentation, the Governor announced N415.66 billion as estimated for capital expenditure while N287.37 billion was earmarked as recurrent expenditure

Giving a breakdown of the budget in the different sectors, Governor Abiodun explained that education is estimated at N109,219 billion representing 16%, health – N81,185 billion representing 12%, infrastructure – N209,122 billion representing 30%, Statewide N104,114 billion representing 15%.