Osun Govt denies alleged under-performance of 2024 budget
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo
Osun State Government has said it is miffed, peeved and appalled beyond description the alleged low performance rating of the 2024 budget of the State, noting that the first quarter performance cannot be used to appropriately judge the performance of yearly budget.
A statement issued on Thursday by the Commissioner of Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, while clarifying a statement circulated on social media by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State said the empty conclusion about the under performance of 2024 budget is not only based on ignorance, mischief but the usual calculated attempt at all times by the opposition party to paint the Ademola Adeleke led administration black.
Alimi said, “apparently disturbed and uncomfortable with the geometric rate at which the administration of Senator Ademola Adeleke is making a steady rise in virtually all sectors, in the almost two year old administration, the opposition party in the state, APC, is out again, with its usual political shenanigans and mischief to paint the administration black in the estimation of the right thinking members of the public .
“Government wishes to state in clear terms, that, jumping into such empty conclusion about the under performance of 2024 budget is not only based on ignorance, mischief but the usual calculated attempt at all times by the shameless opposition party in the state to paint the performing Adeleke led administration black.
“Government of Osun State views the report as widely circulated in some social media as an unwarranted and unnecessary propaganda by the sinking APC in Osun State to whip up unnecessary sentiment, which at best, is dead on arrival, when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that ,the party has lost touch with the actual political realities and performance of Adeleke led administration so far .
“It is a thing of surprise that in the so called budget under-performance of Adeleke led administration, APC in the baseless press statement was busy selling dummy to the innocent members of the public as opposed to the real picture of the performance of the budget.”
The Commissioner stated further, “For record purpose, this is the true position:
“The percentage analyzed was based on the entire budget (100%) size for year 2024, whereas, to get the actual performance for the first quarter, the budget needs to be pro-rated i.e. 100% divided by four (4).
“The first quarter performance should be based on the 25% of the budget size.
“In the Office of the Governor, which houses many Agencies of Government like General Services, Bureau of Government House and Protocol, State Security, Sustainable Development Goals, UNDP, Parastatals Monitoring Office, among others, most of the expenditures referred to are one-off and necessary to stabilize the system, thus, the need for payment in the first quarter of the year.
“In other Sectors for instance, Education, the total budget for 2024 is ₦37,614,185,160.00 and the first quarter pro-rata is ₦9,403,546,290.00 out of which the sum of ₦6,293,762,984.72 was spent, and this account for 66.8%, and not 16% as misquoted. The same could be said of the Ministry of Works where the provision for the year is ₦44,493,184,250.00. The pro-rata for the first quarter is 11,123,296,062.5, however a sum of ₦17,242,506,008.28 has been expended which accounted for 155.2%. For clarity, the increase in expenditure beyond the pro rata is because more fund needed to be pumped into construction before the raining season fully begins. This will be normalized before the 4th Quarter as fewer resources will be needed as the work progresses in the year.
“In the Environment Sector, the total expected expenditure for the year is ₦2,241,111,860.00 of which the expenditure for the first quarter was to be ₦560,277,965.00. The pro-rata performance for the first quarter is ₦575.2 Million which is 103% due to the need to guard against flood through dredging of streams across the State and preservation of forests.
“Talking about Agriculture Sector, most of the expenditure is expected to fall within the Second and Third Quarters of the Year which is the planting season.
“Finally, it must be drummed to the ears of the naysayers in Osun State in the guise of opposition APC that the 1st quarter performance cannot be used to appropriately judge the performance of yearly Budget, since there are some expenditures that cannot be incurred early in the year.
“Therefore, to draw conclusion on their baseless and mischief in trade propaganda , overall performance of the Budget for the first Quarter of 2024 is 70.4% which is quite good targeting a minimum of 85% for the entire year.”
