Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun has sent a letter to the State House of Assembly seeking to present the 2014 budget proposal on the floor of the Assembly next Tuesday, November, 19th 2013. Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Suraj Ishola Adekunbi made this known at the plenary just as the lawmakers opened debate on the re-alignment of the State’s 2013 appropriation law. During the debate on the appropriation amendment bill which opened after a motion moved and seconded by the Minority Leader, Hon. Job Akintan, and Hon. Remmy Hazzan respectively, the lawmakers concurred that the alignment was a normal budgetary process which would provide more funds to agencies with insufficient provisions for smooth operation of government activities. Other lawmakers who spoke in favour of the amendment including the Deputy Speaker, Tola Banjo, Adeyinka Mafe, Abiodun Akovoyon, Babatunde Edunjobi, Olayiwola Ojodu, Olakunle Oluomo and Akanbi Bankole explained that it would ensure monetary provisions for capital expenditure for agencies like Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC) Bureau of Lands and Survey, Gateway ICT Institute Igbesa, Ministries of Women Affairs and Social Development, Housing and the State Housing Corporation. They noted that such funds which would be re-aligned through virement would assist government in implementing “Home Owners Charter” in line with the mission to rebuild, with a view to providing affordable housing facilities to the people. The lawmakers however underscored the need to always have a second look at the allocation given to agencies in their annual budget to avoid such amendment in the next budget, calling for judicious use of the funds. Responding, Rt. Hon. Adekunbi commended fellow lawmakers for the robust debate on the amendment and later charged it to the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation. Meanwhile, bills on the establishment of State’s Sports Development Trust Fund and Management Committee Law, 2013, and the State Public Private Partnership law, 2013 also passed through first readings on the floor of the House.
Budgets are always important in any environment so this should yield good results at the end of the day