AJIMOBI SIGNS 2012 OYO STATE BUDGET

GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi yesterday signed the Oyo State 2012 Appropriation Bill into law with a promise that his administration would aggressively pursue tax administration and management to ensure effectively service delivery.

According to a statement, the signing ceremony, which took place at the Executive Chamber of the Governor's Office was witnessed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, members of the Assembly as well as members of the state executive council.

The governor also promised to effectively monitor and evaluate all ongoing projects through effective cost control and value addition.

The Speaker had earlier given the size of the budget as N172.5 billion made up of N77.5 billion recurrent expenditure and N95 billion as capital expenditure.

According to Sunmonu, the new budget gave a difference of N8.9 billion over the amended N163.6 billion budget earlier presented to the Assembly.

She said the varied votes were a result of conviction by the lawmakers of the need to insert new sums to provide critical services to the people of the state.

Ajimobi said that the budget was aimed at restoring the state to its old glory of a pacesetter.

'This is a budget of restoration. When we came in, Oyo State had lost substantially its pacesetting position - education, health, infrastructural development, industrial base - virtually everything had deteriorated.

'Therefore, we decided to have a budget of restoration, restoring Oyo State to its old glory of a pacesetting state. We not only want to restore but also want to transform Oyo State into a new level that will be the envy of all.

'We believe we are capable of doing this with the support of the House of Assembly, with the support of the executive and the masses,' he said.

The governor commended the House of Assembly for a job well done, stressing that the support, which his administration had received from the lawmakers was wonderful.

'Our government is one of a rainbow coalition; it is a government that, even in the House of Assembly, you can see that coalition, and it has been working very well, both intellectually and governmentally.'

The governor added that the budget being signed into law reflected the spirit of restoration, transformation and repositioning, saying that it was to ensure that the people of the state were the beneficiaries of all the activities.

While expressing regret that unemployment has remained the major problem in the state, Ajimobi said commercialisation and industrialisation would continue to be the foundation for his administration's transformation and restoration agenda.

He expressed happiness that the state had been chosen as one of the pilot states for the Federal Government's youth employment scheme under the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), saying that this was very heartwarming.