Ondo: Aiyedatiwa approves budget with lawmakers’ inclusion of N10.7bn

On Friday, the governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, signed the 2024 Appropriation bill into law after it was passed by the state House of Assembly.

Aiyedatiwa had presented a total of N384,533,000,000.00 to the parliament the previous week, stating that the bill would serve as a financial guide for the state’s fiscal operations in 2024. In accordance with the Nigerian Constitution, Aiyedatiwa expressed his satisfaction in giving his assent to the Ondo State 2024 Appropriation Bill, emphasizing its importance in guiding the state’s financial activities for the upcoming year.

Prior to the bill being signed into law, the assembly had made amendments, increasing the total estimates from the proposed N385 billion to N395,257,000,000.00, resulting in a significant increase of over N10 billion.

During the presentation of the “budget of economic resilience” by Aiyedatiwa, who was the acting governor at the time, a budget of N384,533,000,000.00 was presented to the state lawmakers.

This budget consisted of N222,259,827,500.00 for capital expenditure and N172,997,172,500.00 for recurrent expenditure. Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, the lawmaker representing constituency Owo I and Chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, proposed the adoption of the bill into law during the plenary session.

He highlighted that the estimate passed by the assembly was higher by over N10,734,000,000 compared to what Aiyedatiwa had initially presented.

After engaging with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to defend their respective estimates, the committee made amendments to the original bill and recommended a budget of N395 billion. Ogunmolasuyi emphasized the importance of sustaining and improving the internally generated revenue to ensure that the budget adequately meets the needs of the people of Ondo.

He called upon the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Ministry of Finance, and the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service (ODIRS) to work together and utilize existing laws to boost the state’s revenue. Following the unanimous adoption of the bill, the Speaker of the House of the Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, expressed optimism that if signed into law, it would positively impact the state’s economy and foster growth and development.