OSHA PLENARY: Here is a Recap of What Some OSHA Honorable Members Said on Osun 2020 Budget & Appropriation Bill

Reported by Juwon Amale 

The Speaker the State of Osun House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye at the plenary of Monday 18th November, 2019, called on the honorable members of the House to take an assessment of the Appropriation Bill presented by the state governor, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola on Thursday, 14th November, 2019 at the floor of the House and  to express their reasonable opinions on why the bill is important and why it should be given utmost attention.

The Majority Leader, Hon Ajibola Maruf Olanrewaju, opening the discussion stated that the bill is very important because it contains the total revenue and expenditure budget of the State of Osun for the year 2020. He regarded the budget as a key development budget, one that would live up to expectations as a “budget of restoration”. He also noted that the Governor, Ogbeni Gboyega Oyetola must have made pertinent consultations and enquiries from ministerial experts before fashioning out the budget and presenting it to the House of Assembly. He further explained that if the budget is passed into law, the state of Osun would derive a plethora of benefits which would include the eradication of poverty, infrastructural development, improvement in the standard of living as well as economic restoration and sustainable growth. He concluded by imploring his colleagues to deliver on their constitutional obligations and campaign promises by giving an accelerated passage to the Appropriation Bill which will highly favor the State of Osun and its inhabitants.

The Speaker then gave the floor to Hon Taiwo Adebayo Olodo from Ayedaade to also give a personal rendition of his views and impression concerning the Appropriation Bill, to which he also stated that the bill has a legal framework which is in tandem with the laid down constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He continued by saying that the overall strategic structure of the bill was impeccably drafted by the Executive and commended the size of the budget as he beseeched his Honorable colleagues to give the “budget of restoration” a speedy passage.

Hon Babatunde Festus Komolafe also shared his thoughts on the proposed bill as he stated that the State of Osun is indeed blessed to have such a competent Governor who has the best interest of the people at heart. He expressed his delight in the strategic sketch of the 2020 budget where the overall capital expenditure is greater than the overall recurrent expenditure of the state. Hon Festus mentioned that if the bill is passed into law, the derivational benefits would be in no small measure as there would be a drastic reduction in hardship, improvement in the industrial and commercial status of the state and the creation of employment opportunities for the members of the youth in the state.

Hon John Babatunde Ibirogba representing Egbedore state constituency also corroborated his colleagues’ statements as he appreciated the Chief Executive Officer of Osun State, Ogbeni Gboyega Oyetola for drawing up such a pragmatic and viable budget. He praised the Governor for his sagacity and regarded him as an academic guru in terms of finances. Hon Ibirogba stated that the bill is one which takes the actual needs of the people into consideration, thus the lives of the people would be directly impacted if the bill becomes law.
He then conjoined with the submission of his Honorable colleagues in their advocacy to give the bill an accelerated passage.

Hon Simeon Olufemi Popoola, the Deputy Speaker referred to the budget as a “realistic budget” which will live up to expectations as a budget of restoration, given that it prioritizes sensitive state sectors such as the Health, Agricultural and Educational sectors etc. He also highlighted that the Governor, before drawing up the budget, has taken into consideration the necessities of respective senatorial district of the State of Osun.

Other Honorable members also gave their insights into the importance of the bill which were all in line with the previous statements that were expressed by others.

The Speaker, Rt Hon Timothy Owoeye who carefully listened to the respective impressions, assertions and opinions of the Honorable members, in turn gave a series of advice to the new members of the 7th Assembly.

Rt Hon Timothy Owoeye explained to the House that whenever a policy trust is being discussed, the area of concentration that has to be aptly considered by the Honorable members are the advantages that the bill offers to the state.

He expatiated by stating that legislators are obligated to study and deconstruct such bills to find out if the disadvantages outweigh the advantages or overall benefits so that it could be brought to the attention of the Executive for immediate redress. 

In essence, Honorable members would have to revise, re-examine and strip down the proposed bill to its roots so as to point out elusive flaws that would then be addressed during a general talk.

The Speaker also advised the Honorable members not to dwell on the monolithic figure of a given budget in the determination of its economic effectiveness, in the sense that some states would come up with mammoth budget which would eventually amount to futility as it would not achieve even 30% of the desired economic expectations.

The Majority Leader moved the motion that the Osun State Appropriation Bill 2020 be read for the second time.

Hon Taiwo Adebayo Olodo seconded the motion as moved and the Speaker gave an explicit approval of the bill.

The Speaker then sent out a message to the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget to prepare and provide 35 copies of the presented budget so that the Honorable members can closely peruse and meticulously examine it. He ordered this in a bid to allow for an interactive engagement of the bill 2020 (in juxtaposition to the incumbent 2019 bill) between the members of the House and ministerial officials and bodies such as the MDA, permanent secretaries, commissioners, special advisers.