Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has sent a bill seeking revision of the 2019 budget to the State Assembly with a view to catering for some identified priority areas.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, said the governor’s request was in line with the 2019-2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
Afuye, who spoke in Ado Ekiti while reading the governor’s letter in the Assembly on Thursday, said the revised budget proposal was “just a readjustment of figures as the budget still remained N129 bn, as passed in January 2019”.
Members, including Adelugba Olubunmi, Akin Oso Emmanuel, Yemi Osatuyi and Oluwajana Adegbuyi, in their contributions, called for speedy action on the bill, saying the revised budget was a re-ordering of the 2019 budgetary provisions to cater for critical areas in line with government priorities.
The House consequently committed the revised budget to its Committee on Finance and Appropriation for further legislative scrutiny.
While the 2019 Budget stipulates 56 per cent recurrent expenditure and 44 per cent capital expenditure, Fayemi’s proposed revision proposes 60 per cent recurrent expenditure and 40 per cent capital expenditure.
Recall that the 5th Assembly passed the 2019 budget in January.
Sources said the revised budget was necessitated by the May 2019 Iloko Retreat Declaration which prioritised some identified areas of governance in Ekiti State.