Oyebanji Presents N113b “Budget Of Strong Beginning” To State Assembly

Ekiti state governor, Biodun Oyebanji has presented a N113.57 billion 2023 appropriation bill to the state house of assembly.

Titled, ‘budget of strong beginning’, Oyebanji presented the budget to the house of assembly on Thursday.

The figure is N13 billion higher than the last budget of N100 billion presented by Kayode Fayemi, the immediate past governor of the state.

This is aimed at building on a strong foundation already laid for the development of the state, Oyebanji said.

Meanwhile, a breakdown of the budget shows that recurrent expenditure will take N80 billion, while capital expenditure will gulp N34 billion.

Recurrent expenditure represents all payments other than for capital assets, including on goods and services, (wages and salaries, employer contributions), interest payments, subsidies and transfers.

Whereas, capital expenditure (CapEx) is payments for acquisition of fixed capital assets, stock, land or intangible assets.

Oyebanji, while presenting the budget, said the 2023 proposed budget was designed to address the challenges posed to subnational, national and global economies, and the ripple effects of the economic downturn.

“It seeks to ensure that the internally generated revenue is increased to reduce the dependence of the state on federal allocation,” the governor said, adding that the budget was largely the product of citizen’s engagement programmes with stakeholders from towns and villages across the three senatorial districts of the state.

He added that the 2023 budget was anchored on his administration’s six pillars for Ekiti development which include; youth development and job creation, human capital development, agricultural and rural development, infrastructure and industrialisation, arts, culture and tourism, and governance.