Ondo State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the 2024 supplementary budget of over N96 billion into law, bringing the total budget for the year to N492.045 billion. The initially approved budget by the House was over N395 billion.
The state government had proposed a supplementary budget of over N92 billion, which was revised upwards by more than N4 billion, making it over N96 billion.
Earlier, the Chairman of the House Standing Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, while presenting the committee’s findings, said the replacement of the existing first and second schedules was necessary to accommodate the required adjustments to the initial approved sum of N395.257 billion in the 2024 Appropriation Law, now revised upwards to N492.045 billion.
He explained that some of the heads and sub-heads of the 2024 Appropriation Law had been overtaken by inflationary pressures, leading to the exhaustion of allocated funds. Additional funds were therefore required to achieve the state’s target goals before the fiscal year ends.
The revised budget, according to Ogunmolasuyi, reflects the principle of intelligent budgeting aimed at rapid development. After a detailed review of the proposal, the committee recommended the budget revision to help the state government cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal and address the financial demands of the new minimum wage.
The committee approved an additional N96.788 billion for recurrent and capital expenditure components of the 2024 budget, reallocating the funds across existing programmes within the recurrent component. Ogunmolasuyi further recommended that the state government ensure the revised budget is applied conscientiously to meet the stated needs, ensuring the goals of the revision are fully achieved.
In addition, a bill amending the establishment of the Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) was passed into law after its third reading. The bill makes provisions for the composition of the commission and other related matters.
Presenting the report at the plenary session, the Chairman of the Committee on OSOPADEC, Primate Oluwatoyin Allen, representing Ese-Odo Constituency, noted that the bill addresses and corrects gaps identified in the principal law, aligning it with current realities in the mandate area. The bill, when passed into law, will enhance the commission’s ability to better serve the people in oil-producing areas.
Furthermore, the 2024 proposed budgets for the 18 local government areas in Ondo State were passed into law after passing the third reading.
The Chairman of the Committee on Local Government Budgets, Oluwatoyin Japhet, noted that the budget proposals clearly expressed the councils’ vision of completing ongoing projects, thereby providing relief to residents of the local governments.
The committee observed that the 2024 expenditures were reasonably projected and set at sustainable levels, taking into account current economic realities. The projections are expected to enable the completion of ongoing projects and the initiation of new ones.
The committee stressed the importance of local councils intensifying their internal revenue generation mechanisms to prevent identified revenue sources from becoming mere projections. It recommended that all local government councils ensure the provisions of their budgets are applied to the stated needs.
Additionally, the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs was urged to take necessary steps to drive councils towards increasing internally generated revenue in line with existing laws. The local government councils were also advised to make efforts to block any identified leakages in their revenue streams.
The Hope
