Assembly scores Osun low on 2013 budget performance

The Osun State House of Assembly on Thursday in Osogbo said the 2013 budget performance by ministries, agencies and parastatals of the state government was “below average.”

The House Committee Chairman on Finance and Appropriation, Mr. Kamil Oyedele, made the observation when the budget and planning office of the governor presented the budget performance of the organisations between January and September.

Oyedele said the statistics given by the budget office showed that the 2013 budget was “poorly implemented.”

He said it was time for the organisations to “buckle up and be more aggressive, to generate revenues” for the effective implementation of the budget.

Oyedele, who described the 2013 budget as bogus, said the irregular federal allocation to the state also affected its performance.

He said, “From what we have seen so far, the 2013 budget performance by the MDAs (organisations) is below average.

“It is time for us to move away from bogus budget and for the MDAs to buckle up towards robust internally generated revenue.”

The Chairman, House Committee on Public Account, Mr. Rasheed Afolabi, said the state could not continue to rely on federal allocations to finance its budget.

Afolabi said the 2013 budget was poorly implemented and emphasised that MDAs should do more in the area of internally generated revenue.

“We cannot continue to rely on federal allocations to finance our budget. Come next year, our IGR must be put in place to implement our budget effectively,” he said.

Earlier in his presentation, Mr. Bade Adeshina, Special Adviser to Governor Rauf Aregbesola on Budget and Economic Planning, said the budget was not implemented as expected by the MDAs.