Osun State House of Assembly has warned Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the state not to expect a free and easy passage of their respective budget estimates.
The Speaker, Mr. Timothy Owoeye gave the warning on the floor of the House today at the commencement of the budget defence by the MDAs.
Mr. Owoeye warned that the House will be thorough in the assessment of the budget and any expenditure at variance with economic realities will be discarded.
The Joint Committees on Finance and Appropriation and Education played host to the Osun Mass Education Agency, Teachers’ Establishment and Pension Office, Osun State Universal Basic Education Board and the Osun State Library Board.
However, in the course of the defense, Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Taiwo Olodo, observed some discrepancies in figures contained in the initial budget estimates and that submitted by the ministry of Education.
This prompted the house to shelve the defence of some of the agencies in the ministry, asking them to reappear only when the figures have been reconciled.
Commissioner for Education, Mr. Folorunso Oladoyin, acknowledged the inconsistencies and disclosed that he had sought the indulgence of the House to put the agencies under him in order.
Meanwhile, chairman of the House Committee on Education, Mr. Babatunde Ibirogba described the discrepancies as an anomaly and emphasised the need to sanitize the education sector, which he described as sensitive.
On the budget, Education takes the second highest sectoral allocation of 10.71 billion naira which the lawmakers say they intend to be thorough in scrutinizing the ministry’s defence, in order to justify it.
Funmi Adekoya
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