Members of the Ogun State House of Assembly have examined the 2021 budget proposal of the State Ministry of Rural Development, with a call for a fair and equitable distribution of rural projects including rural roads, electrification projects and water facilities across the 26 State Constituencies.
The lawmakers made the call while responding to the presentation of the State Commissioner for Rural Development, Engr. Taiwo Oludotun, who appeared before them for the defence of his ministry’s proposed 2021 budget estimate at a session presided over by the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Olakunle Sobunkanla at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
They requested for further engagements on road rehabilitation, the need to energise some transformers and electrification of some rural communities in the State.Responding, Engr. Oludotun, while presenting the Ministry’s budget size of N4.1bn out of which N4bn was earmarked for capital projects, with the remaining N181.6m was proposed for recurrent expenditure, disclosing that about 207 rural roads were being proposed for construction across the State.The Commissioner intimated the lawmakers that N2.17bn was proposed for construction of rural roads, with N657.3m earmarked for construction of water facilities, while N400m was being voted for provision of electricity in the rural areas across the three Senatorial Districts.
In a related development, the 2021 budget proposal of the State Ministry of Culture and Tourism was examined with a task on the State Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Dr. Toyin Taiwo, to engage necessary stakeholders, especially his education counterpart to ensure that students are familiar with the various tourist sites in the State through visit continous visit, while the teaching of culture and tradition should be encouraged at various levels of education..The lawmakers, also challenged him to evolve more innovative measures towards ensuring the viability of the existing tourist sites and ensure the discovery of new ones with a view to preserving the rich cultural heritage of the State from going into extinction.
They admonished the management of the Ministry to improve on its research and planning capacity to avail residents of the State with more cultural and historical facts towards attracting more tourists to the various sites.Speaking on the 2021 budget, Dr. Taiwo assured of identifying and promoting more tourism potentials, disclosing that N716.1m was proposed for capital projects, with N533.7m to cater for recurrent expenses, while revenue target was put at N8.7m.Similarly, Ministry of Youth and Sports led by its Commissioner, Dr Oluwadare Kehinde defended budget proposal of N389.5m while N183m was put down as Capital Expenditure.Other Agencies that defended their budget estimates included, Team Ogun, Gateway Football Club, Ogun State Sport Council, Amongst Others.
