Oyetola, Budget of Sustainable Development and Endorsement Galore.

By Adebayo Adedeji

In September 2020, an Ekiti-born communications expert, Temitope Ajayi, had advanced some reasons attention should be paid to Osun State. In his words, " . . . Governor Oyetola is making some real difference quietly." Paucity of funds and the state's inherited debt burden nothwithstanding, Osun State, Ajayi believed, had been creditably managed under the headship of Oyetola. Ajayi marvelled at the speed in which Oyetola was turning the state around. According to him, " I have seen images of roads across the state, both completed and ongoing. Read a media report moment ago that Oyetola started 13.5km Ada-Igbajo today too. Olusegun Michael Fafore will be particularly happy about the Igbajo road ahead of his future coronation."

The foregoing is one of dozens of pleasant views informed commentators hold about Osun government under the stewardship of Governor Oyetola. Those who once doubted Oyetola's competence, because of his hushed mien, have begun to have a change of heart. Those who doubted his humanity before the last governorship election, hence felt comfortable gifting their votes to a nondescript loafer with tainted academic and professional credentials, now see him as a credible and presentable administrator. The encomiums are everywhere. And they are daily showered on him.

According to a civic advocacy and accountability group, BudgIT, in its 2021 State of States report recently released, Osun State was ranked 8th in the Fiscal Responsibility Performance index ahead of all states in the south-west Nigeria, with the exception of Lagos. Ogun was ranked 9th; Oyo was ranked 16th, Ondo 28th and Ekiti 31st. The state was touted to have comparatively limited dependence on the federally distributed revenue for its operation and thus has greater viability if it were to theoretically exist as an independent entity.

BudgIT also grouped Osun alongside six other states that have complied fully to the Treasury Single Accounts policy, " an otherwise critical fiscal strategy that gives states more control over their revenues and could help them reduce leakages."

To arrive at its 2021 findings, the group examined the fiscal health of states, using four metrics namely, " the ability of states to meet their operating expenses with IGR and VAT, states' ability to cover their operating expenses and loan repayment with their total revenue."

Does anyone think this ranking is a product of happenstance? No, please. The attestation is a result of quality leadership Oyetola has been providing in Osun State. . . . The ranking attests to the ingenuity, openness and financial discipline he has entrenched in government business since November 2018 when he became governor. Oyetola's boardroom experience, spanning over 30 years, daily reflects on how he conducts activities of his government.

In his time, Osun no longer appears in the news for the wrong reasons as we used to experience some years back. Since 2018, the state civil servants, for example, have not gone on strike. Teachers of higher institutions have not gone on strike. Students in the tertiary institutions have not embarked on violent aluta which was commonplace in the past. Half-salary, which used to be a pejorative epithet for Osun, has become history because workers not only receive their pay in full, they receive it as and when due, even ahead of many states. In the last 33 months, over N150 billion has been released to settle pension and salary obligations. The state has also defrayed about N70 billion of the close to N200 billion debt bequeathed to it by Rauf Aregbesola government. His commitment to welfare of the state workers is one of the reasons he continues to enjoy the workers' love, support and understanding. The love was,again, in display on Tuesday, 5th October, 2021, when the state teachers singled him out for laudation. The teachers also endorsed him for re-election next year. The teachers, during the event marking this year's World Teachers' Day, hailed Oyetola passion for educational transformation. Speaking on behalf of the teachers in the State, Comrade Adekunle Adekomi, state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, appreciated the governor and his government for giving teachers adequate training and providing them with neccesary infrastructure, instructional materials, remunerations, career progression and incentives to meet the challenges and demands of today's realities.

Regardless, Oyetola and his team are not resting on their oars. They are making leaps each day --- working assiduously to surpass current achievement. As the teachers celebrated their day at Osogbo City Stadium on Tuesday, on the hope that Education sector in the state would experience more positive turnaround as time went by, Governor Oyetola, on this same Tuesday, submitted his 2022 budget estimate to the state assembly. Oyetola, in the budget he christened "Budget of Sustainable Development," devoted N26.6 billion, representing 21% of the total expenses for next year, to Education sector. This is an improvement on the 2021 budget for this sector. N10.7 billion, representing 18% of the 2021 budget, was allocated to Education.

The 2022 Draft Budget of N129.7 billion, over N20bn higher in size to that of 2021 of N109.8 billion, is tilted towards capital expenditure. Going by the draft, Total Recurrent Expenditure would be N53,593,627,990.00, representing 41.30%, while the Total Capital Expenditure would be N76,162,822,800.00, representing 58.70% respectively. In 2021, 46% of the budget was earmarked for recurrent expenses while 54% was to take care of capital expenses.

The Appropriation Bill also revealed that Infrastructure, Health and Agriculture sectors are other top priorities of the government. Infrastructure got N19.9 billion, Health N16 billion and Agriculture N7 billion. There is a substantial improvement on allocation to Infrastructure sector. In 2021, the sector got N4.2 billion. This is more than 400% improvement on allocation. Implication of this improvement on allocation to Infrastructure sector is that more capital projects --- capital projects which hasten development --- would be undertaken by the government. More roads would be built. More hospitals would be built.

The 2022's budget proposal for Health is also an improvement on the 2021 budget which was N10.6 billion. So also Agriculture which got N3.7 billion in 2021.

On Tuesday, Oyetola used the event of the bill presentation to inform the assembly that contract for 17 health centres in the state, being the last batch of operation one health centre per ward, had also be awarded. So at the completion of the 17 health centres, 332 health centres across length and breadth of the state must have been constructed/renovated by Oyetola government.

Oyetola equally updated the legislators on the activities of his government to cushion the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and well-being of the people of the state. He addressed the assembly on the issue pertaining to Osun CARES, a World Bank assisted programme designed to assist the poor and the vulnerable in the state. Through COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus ( CARES), the government of Osun, it has been noted, continues to assist 3,000 vulnerable citizens with N20,000 bimonthly. This is in addition to the Osun Food Support Scheme designed to provide food items/supplements to 30,000 vulnerable and poor citizens every month. Since April this year when the scheme went live, 150,000 persons, according to Olalekan Badmus, ( special duties commissioner in the state and chairman of the committee in charge of the scheme), have been covered.

The Osun CARES, similarly, is planned to engage 4,000 semi-skilled workers next year to carry out environmental and janitorial services across the state. Workers employed under this scheme would work on part-time basis and would be stipended with N20,000 every month.

The governor also disclosed to the assembly that an approval had been given for the comprehensive rehabilitation and renovation of the dilapidated buildings of the Comprehensive Health Centre, Apomu, Isokan Local Government and Comprehensive Health Centre, Fadilulah, Osogbo. He again revealed that a Grant of $15m had been given to the state by the federal government to fight Tuberculosis, Malaria, etc. This Grant is to salute and support the state government fight against HIV/AIDs, Malaria and Tuberculosis in recent time.

The governor expressed the readiness of his government to complete construction, in no distance time, of the 120-bed ward in the State Specialists Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, even as he stated that 30-unit Doctors' Quarters built by his administration had been completed.

The 2022 budget proposal exudes hope and reassures the citizens of the state that the economic prosperity promised by Oyetola is achievable, practicable and is in sight. The hope of this better tomorrow is buoyed by the record of consistent performance of Osun governor. Oyetola, available records have shown, is not a political leader that submits appropriation bill for showmanship. No. He walks the talk and does everything to deliver on his promise. For the 2020 budget, the state recorded over 95% performance. And for the 2021 budget, as at Q2 of this year, 77% of the expenditure for the projected period had been recorded. This is cheering in view of the fact that the budget performance in 2018, when Oyetola came on board, was 58% and 66% in 2019. No one would have this public service credentials and would not be a darling of the people he governs. Osun budget performance under Oyetola is what gives a community leader like Otunba Abiola Oloke hope that the 2022 budget proposal, as submitted by the governor, is achievable. In his opinion on a WhatsApp channel of the Forum for Nation Builders and Social Development, Oloke, a publisher and prominent traditional chief from Modakeke, believed the governor meant well for the people. In his opinion, " . . . the Government of Oyetola is trying to work within the available resources, and augmenting the lean resource base with funds from international donors and local partners."

Oloke, who opined that the 27-page Governor Oyetola's address during the budget presentation undercounted the government potentials and did not give true account of the notable performance of Oyetola administration, believed Osun 2022 budget at N129 billion was not elephantine; thus there was every hope it would be delivered as proposed. This is the measured sentiment of many citizens of the state, including yours sincerely.

Res Ipsa Loquitor: Only fools will see and still doubt.

https://docpetinfo.com/2021/10/11/oyetola-budget-of-sustainable-development-and-endorsement-galore-by-adebayo-adedeji/

Lol....
This one should just continue paying salaries (that's if he pays it in full)