The Oyo State Government has proposed to spend 22.37 percent of its 2020 budget on education.
Governor Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday, 27th November, presented the budget proposal before the State House of Assembly in Ibadan, the state capital.
Tagged “the budget of the masses”, it is planned that N208.8 billion would be expended in the fiscal year.
Capital expenditure takes 47.9 percent of it all at N100.1 billion while the rest goes into recurrent expenditure.
Mr Makinde averred that increased allocation to capital projects directly contributes to a more buoyant economy and sustainable development.
EduCeleb.com reports that with the disclosure by Makinde, Oyo State now ranks third among states that have so far presented their 2020 budgets in terms of their allocation to education. Kaduna and Kano, which each proposed above 25 percent to the sector are the only two that outrank it.
Makinde highlighted some of the efforts made by his administration to address challenges facing the education sector while presenting the budget speech.
“We have started tackling head on the number of out-of-school children in Oyo State by providing free education in public secondary schools. We followed up by providing the students with free exercise books and textbooks. We have also made these textbooks available for download online on the Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology website.”
“Recently, we awarded the contract to produce a compilation of past examination questions in ten subjects for Senior Secondary School 3 students, to help them prepare for WAEC exams.”
“However, we are having challenges with teacher recruitment, training, and workforce development. We also need to construct and renovate more classrooms in schools across Oyo State and provide them with needed security. In addition, we need increased funding for our state-owned higher institutions to better position themselves for human capital development.”
“In the 2020 budget, we have provided for capital projects in this sector along with regular payment of subvention.”
A further breakdown of the budget shows that works takes 23.93 percent, while healthcare takes 5.18 percent and Agriculture at 4.43 percent.
Makinde had reduced the 2019 budget of N285billion presented by his predecessor, former Governor Abiola Ajimobi by 36 percent, saying it was unrealistic in view of estimated income to fund the budget.
He added that while the last administration projected N25.55billion as revenue from MDAs and N91.59billion from statutory allocations, the projections were higher than could be achieved and as such mark it down by 4.79 and 6.08 as revenues from the MDAs and Statutory Allocations respectively.
This is as he stressed that his administration had reviewed the internally generated revenue upwards based on various strategies put in place, adding that the state is expecting a monthly revenue of at least N3billion starting from January 2020.
Reacting on behalf of the lawmakers, the Oyo Speaker Adebo Ogundoyin described the budget as all inclusive, calling for more funds to be devoted to the health sector in view of its importance.
Ogundoyin also called on all the ministries, departments and agencies of the government to promptly respond to call of the budget committees anytime they are invited to appear before it so that works on the proposed budget can be completed in no time.
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[…] signs of increased commitment from the government towards public education. For instance, Oyo State allocated 22 per cent of its 2020 budget to education while Kaduna and Kano both allocated 25 per cent. While […]