The Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Bamidele Oleyelogun, has warned the various Ministries, Department and Agency(MDAs) in the state to avoid frivolous requests or unrealistic figures in the 2020 budget proposal.
Oleyelogun gave the warning on Monday at the opening ceremony of the Year 2020 budget defence by MDAs at the assembly compex in Akure.
The speaker said the Finance and Appropriation Committee under the chairmanship of Sunday Olajide would not approve any unrealistic figure by MDAs that would prevent the 2020 budget from being fully implemented after being signed into law.
The budget tagged, “Budget of Growth,” was received in the house on Dec. 19, and was immediately committed to the Finance Committee
He said the lawmakers resolved, as direct representatives of the people, to give the budget an accelerated consideration inspite of the enormity of work currently at hand
“We have looked critically at the general principles of the bill. The budget has again reaffirmed the commitment of the present administration in the state to continue its good work of transforming the state.
“It is our duty, as the legislative arm of government, to maintain high level of commitment to excellent service delivery and value for money which the administration is noted for since inception in February 2017.
“A very realistic budget is non negotiable. We will try hard to be stricter than before so that we come up with a realistic budget at the end of the day,” the Speaker said.
Oleyelogun, therefore, appealed to chief executives and accounting officers of all MDAs not to perceive the thorough scrutiny as an act of fault finding or a deliberate attempt to fight with the executive arm of government.
He urged stakeholders to see the legislature as partners in progress with a view to ensuring that citizens get the best dividends of democracy in the next fiscal year.
The speaker equally charged the state internal revenue board and other income generating agencies to improve on their efforts at increasing the revenue profile of the state.
Olajide, on his part, said the house had further strengthened the accounting system in the state through legislation, adding this had been yielding results.
He said the committee’s interaction with MDAs during the current year’s budget appraisal showed tremendous improvement in term of performance on both recurrent and capital
