By Lekan Lisoye
The Ogun State government on Tuesday engaged the State residents in the preparation of the 2024-2026 MTEF and the 2024 Budget for the State.
The presentation which is aimed at presenting the status report to the relevant stakeholders from each of the four divisions of the State and to obtain their inputs was also to appraise the performance of the government in terms of budget implementation.
Speaking at the stakeholders meeting held in Ijebu-Ode for the residents of Ogun East zone on Tuesday, Ogun State Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun said the programme which is a multi-year public expenditure planning exercise is used to set out the future budget requirements for existing services and to access the resource implications of future policy changes and any new programmes.
Represented by his Deputy, Engr. Noimot Salako Oyedele said the Medium Term Expenditure Framework enhances the transparency of the budget process and budget documentation so that policy goals and resource allocation are set out.
"In this way, it empowers the government to determine priorities and seamlessly deliver democratic deliverables without predilection or sentiment.
He said the infrastructural investments of his administration are "people-oriented and transformational, with resultant and obvious multiplier effects on the socio-economic development of the state.
"Our infrastructure investments are people-oriented and
transformational, with immense multiplier effects on the socio-economic development of the entire citizenry of the state.
"For example, in the area of agriculture, we initiated various programmes that include a partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the Anchor Borrowers Scheme on Agriculture, under which tens of thousands of our people are being empowered with already cleared farmland by the government, facilitate the acquisition of seedlings and seeds, and provide access to finance.
"We keyed into this programme because of the immense potential of agriculture to employ our teeming youth. We also have the FADAMA Graduate Unemployed Youths and Women Scheme (FADAMA GUYS), which is particularly unique because it is targeted at two main vulnerable groups of our population: youths and women.
"At the microeconomic level, these programmes provide job opportunities in agriculture for our youth and women, thereby providing income and food for themselves and their families, and on the macroeconomic level, they will be another boost to Nigeria’s food self-sufficiency agenda.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Hon Olaolu Olabimtan said the programme is aimed at making governance a bottom-top approach.
" The inputs from the people are being generated to make the aim of MTEF achievable.
In his contribution, the Awujale of Ijebuland Oba Sikiru Adetona, called for the opening up of rural areas to discourage rural-urban drift.
Awujale, represented by Orimolusi of Ijebu Igbo, Oba Lawrence Adebajo said the opening up of rural areas apart from reducing unemployment, will also fight the insecurity that is bedeviling the State.
He suggested a public-private approach, saying that the move would ensure that many of the youths roaming about the streets in the urban areas engage themselves in meaningful ventures.
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