The Oyo State House of Assembly on Thursday directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to appear before it for budget defence.
The Speaker of the House, Adebo Ogundoyin, gave the directive on the floor of the House while inaugurating the committees saddled with the responsibility of screening the state’s Appropriation (Review) Bill, 2019 of N171 billion sent to it by the executive.
Ogundoyin said that the focus of the budget was to cut down by 40 percent the budget of the previous administration in the state.
“This is to meet up with the objectives of the present administration,” he added.
He said a breakdown of the budget proposal as presented by the executive showed N94, 250, 021, 702 . 03 as recurrent expenditure while capital expenditure stood at N76, 749, 978, 297 .97.
The House had forwarded the bill to the House Committees on Public Account, Finance and Appropriation for further consideration after it passed through second reading.
The Deputy Speaker, Mr Abiodun Fadeyi, called for quick action on the bill, saying that this would enable government to meet up with the expectations of the people.
The Majority Leader, Mr Sanjo Adedoyin and Minority Leader, Mr Asimiyu Alarape, also appealed to the committees to work with relevant bodies to ensure speedy passage of the budget.
The budget defence is expected to last for three days.
