AKURE— A BUDGET of N32.176billion for the 2005 fiscal year was yesterday presented by the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu to the state House of Assembly.
Dr Agagu said the budget “is a concretization of the 2005 leg of the covenant between the government and the people of the state as encapsulated in our Road Map to Progress.”
Giving a breakdown of the budget, the governor said that N17.14b was voted for recurrent expenditure while N11.67b was allocated for capital expenditure and N3.36b for the State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC).
The policy objective of the budget according to him was based on the improvement of agricultural production and forest resources through encouragement and education of farmers.
He added that the budget would focus on continued rehabilitation and construction of rural roads to assist farmers in the state.
Dr Agagu pointed out that the budget was predicated on “a revenue projection of N32.176b from the various sources of revenue of the state government.”
A sum of N15.6b was expected from statutory allocation, while N2.04b is expected from Value Added Tax, N84b from mineral derivation, and N2.822b from internally generated revenue.
The governor added that N.663b is expected from grants, N1.9b on excess crude oil, account, and N0.75b as refund from the federal government on road repairs across the state.
A total sum of N17.141b representing 59.49 per cent of the total amount of the budget would be expended on recurrent expenditure while N7.197b representing 41.99 per cent would be spent on personnel costs.
Dr Agagu who said that N11.67b is the total capital budget of the state noted that it is exclusive of N3.36b to be allocated to the State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, an intervention agency for the oil producing areas of the state.
The sectoral analysis showed that the economic sector took the lion share of N4.461b or 41.48 per cent, social service sector N2.958b or 27.50 per cent, environmental and regional development sector N1.710b or 15.90 per cent and administration sector N1.625b or 15.11 per cent.
Over N3.14b or 29.10 per cent of the capital budget was allocated to works and transports, education was allocated N1.808b or 16.81 per cent of the capital budget, health services N715.49m or 6.65 per cent, while water supply project gets N1.173b or 10.91 per cent and N66.4m for waste management.
On the palliative, on increasing fuel prices, Dr Agagu also explained that a committee with membership drawn from a wide spectrum of the society has been set up to recommend palliative measures, which are capable of cushioning the effect of the rise in the prices of petroleum products.
