Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday proposed a N1.12tn appropriation bill for the 2027 fiscal year, with the public infrastructure sector taking the lead with N236.15bn.
The governor, while presenting the bill before the state House of Assembly in Ibadan, the state capital, explained that the bill was aimed at improving on the legacy projects of his administration.
Christened “Sustained Progress,” Makinde, in his breakdown, said, “N670bn, representing 61 per cent of the total budget, is voted for the capital expenditure while the remaining N444bn is for the recurrent expenditure.”
He said his administration had prioritised infrastructure development across the state, hence the allocation of the largest share of the budget to the sector.
He added that education ranked second, with N190.6bn, followed by health, with N93.01bn.
Makinde said, “My administration has shored up the Internally Generated Revenue from N26.95bn in 2019 to N103.25bn in 2026.
“The IGR of the state as of the time we took over in 2019 was N26.95bn, but it has witnessed a geometric increase as it now stands at N103.25bn. Our administration has returned 65,000 out-of-school children to the classroom.”
For effective implementation of the budget, the governor stressed the need for prudent financial management to maintain the reforms and infrastructure established by his administration.
He also defended the administration’s tractorisation policy and his decision to privatise tractor services as part of efforts to improve agricultural productivity.
On the recent wave of resignations involving political appointees and other officials in his administration, the governor said he was counting on those who had left but insisted that their decisions had no significance for his administration.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, noted that the occasion provided an opportunity to “consolidate the achievements of the last seven and a half years, sustain ongoing developmental programmes and strengthen the foundation for sustainable growth and prosperity.”
Ogundoyin added that since June 2023, the House has “passed 41 bills into law, processed 146 committee reports, 184 motions, and adopted over 1,500 Resolutions.”
He also highlighted key public engagements on major legislative proposals like the “Oyo State Real Properties Protection Bill, Presumptive Tax Bill, Consumer Protection Agency Bill, Oyo State Roads Fund Bill and Single-Use Plastics Prohibition Bill.”
Additionally, he celebrated an institutional milestone, noting that the establishment of the Post-Legislative Scrutiny Unit in January 2025 made Oyo State “the first state House of Assembly in Nigeria to establish a dedicated unit for this purpose.”
Addressing the incoming fiscal plan, the Speaker assured the governor that the Assembly “shall give the proposed budget the necessary legislative attention and scrutiny, guided by the overriding interest of the people of Oyo.”
He also used the opportunity to advocate for the welfare of legislative support staff, presenting specific requests from the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, including a 100 per cent upward review of the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure, regularisation of ad hoc staff appointments and release of the bus earlier approved for the association.
Also on Tuesday, Makinde swore in four newly appointed permanent secretaries to fill vacancies in the state’s top civil service cadre.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, Makinde said the appointments emerged from a transparent and competitive process designed to strengthen the leadership of the state civil service while ensuring equitable representation across Oyo State.
Makinde, shortly after the appointees took their Oaths of Allegiance and Office, said his administration would remain focused on governance and service delivery until its last day in office and would not abandon its responsibilities for politics.
According to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olarenwaju, Makinde said: “When I said to the people of Oyo State that we will serve them until the last moment of the last day, this is exactly what we’re talking about. We won’t, because we’re campaigning all over the place, forget our responsibilities to the people of Oyo State.”
The governor explained that the selection process was based on a competitive examination, with 80 per cent of the appointments determined by merit and 20 per cent reserved for balancing considerations to ensure equity, inclusiveness and fair representation across the state.
According to him, the process that produced the new permanent secretaries was fair and transparent.
Makinde recalled that when he assumed office in 2019, there was no permanent secretary from the Ibarapa Zone, a situation his administration moved swiftly to address to ensure equitable representation across the state.
He noted that his administration was deliberate about ensuring that no zone of the state was excluded from representation at the highest level of the civil service, stressing that the state’s commonwealth belongs to all its people.
He added that his administration remained conscious of the need to make decisions it would one day account for before God and the people.
Makinde charged the newly appointed permanent secretaries to uphold their oath of office by being fair and just in all their dealings and by discharging their duties with diligence, integrity and professionalism.
He further stated that his administration would be remembered for appointing the highest number of permanent secretaries through a competitive examination process.
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