The Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), Oyo State chapter, on Tuesday, described the state’s 2019 budget of N285.15billion as unrealistic, padded, ambiguous, urging the Governor Seyi Makinde-led the government to consider cutting down the budget by about 40 per cent.
The Nigerian Tribune reports that various speakers identified this imperative at a seminar of the APBN to review the Oyo 2019 budget, held at the Nigeria Bar Association hall, Ibadan, on Tuesday.
In their analyses, the speakers including Profession Segun Adedeji of the University of Ibadan and an accountant, Mrs Bola Oyekunle, questioned the sincerity of the former governor Abiola Ajimobi administration in presenting a budget replete with overlap, duplication of figures, unjustified allocations and project estimates without a source of financing.
In his review of the budget, Adedeji questioned the recurrent allocation of huge sums of money for fixed assets, construction provision, rehabilitation, overheads, the office of the governor, public building.
Lamenting poor income projection, expenditure tracking and sensitivity analysis in the budget, Adedeji called for income diversification especially with a focus on agriculture driven economic development.
Adedeji noted that the state would improve its internally generated income to fund the budget by encouraging agric-based businesses, upgrading entrepreneurial centres and vocational institutes.
Noting that it was high time the residents of Oyo State begin to see the roadmap of the Makinde-led government, Adedeji said that the state must optimise its competitive advantage in unskilled labour and natural resources.
