The Oyo State House of Assembly has set target of December 19th, 2019 for the passage of the 2020 budget into law.
The Speaker, Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin disclosed this during the plenary during the week.
The 2020 Appropriation Bill, after scaling through the second reading has been passed to the House Committee on Public Account, Finance and Appropriation for proper review.
Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin urged the lawmakers to sacrifice their time and put in their best to see that the budget is tailored to address the interest of the people of the state.
Hon. Ogundoyin implored all chairmen of the committees to work alongside the Committee on Public Accounts, Finance and Appropriation to ensure effective deliberation and defence of the budget by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
In his words “ Every committee chairman should make sure that the interest of the people and goals of the committee is included and captured in the budget. That means the chairmen should work with the chairman Committee on Appropriation, who has a lot of work to do. We are all going to be having a lot of sleepless nights for at least two weeks. We plan to pass this budget on the 19th of this month, so, from now till then, it is going to be hard work,” the Speaker said.
The minority leader, Hon. Asimiyu Alarape admonished the committee chairmen to make it a necessity that the budget creates employment for the youths of the state.
“If you look at the population of the state, it is over ten million, and the agile youths within the state will be nothing less than five million and they are employable. What I’m driving at is that by the time all the committees are meeting, let us look for the opportunity to employ our youths. People are retiring and leaving work due to natural circumstances, these spaces should be filled.”
In the same vein, the lawmaker representing Ogo Oluwa/Surulere state constituency, Hon. Simeon Oyeleke and Hon. Seyi Adisa, representing Afijio state constituency have urged the state government to consider rehabilitation of Iwo Ate/Awe Road.
The lawmakers noted that the road should be rehabilitated for easy vehicular movement during this festive period, requesting that the House should call on Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency, OYSTROMA, for quick rehabilitation due to the importance of the road.
This was contained in a motion co-sponsored by two lawmakers titled “Need for Urgent Rehabilitation of Iwo-Ate-Aawe Road to Serve as Alternative Route for Travelers from Oyo to Ogbomoso.”
Packaged by Kunle Gazali and Kunle Daramola
