Governor Rauf Aregbesola ofOsun State, on Thursday, presented the 2018 budget proposal of N173,980,083,007 before the state House of Assembly.
The estimate, tagged ‘Budget of Enduring Legacy’ has Recurrent expenditure of N85,105,590,726 representing 49 per cent, with
Capital Expenditure of N88,874,492,281 representing 51 per cent of the total budget.
The estimate is 16 per cent higher than the 2017 budget which was N146,632,746,980.
While presenting the budget, the governor said that the estimate was prepared to consolidate the successes recorded by his administration within the last seven years.
He 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 regretted that his administration was only able to achieve just 42.885 per cent of the 2017 budget said, the economic downturn in terms of inadequate revenue was responsible for the low performance.
According to him, the only alternative available towards the effective implementation of the 2018 budget is for the people to perform their civic responsibilities interms of tax payment.
Earlier, the Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam has 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.
He 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.
Commending the state workforce for their support towards ensuring that the government achieved the successes recorded so far, he appealed to the workers to show more understanding with the government.
Salaam then hinted that the budget would be diligently perused and given accelerated treatment with a view to ensuring that the administration leave an enduring legacy as it presents its last budget.