Ogun Govt concludes review of 2023-2025 budgetary components of MDAs
The Ogun State Ministry of Budget and Planning has finalised the periodical process of reviewing the State’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), with a view to ascertain the sectoral budget performance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government in the previous year and evaluate the lessons learnt.
Giving remarks at the mid-year review of the 2023-2025 MTEF/MTSS and commencement of 2024-2026 Budget preparation process held at the Conference Room of the Ministry in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, Special Adviser to the Governor on Budget and Planning, Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan revealed that the State’s budget performance had improved over the years from 42 per cent in 2019, to 70 per cent in 2021, while 74 per cent was recorded in 2023.
Olabimtan stated that the present administration was committed to ‘Budget Credibility’ which allows the government to access funding from grants, and loans for developmental purposes, noting that due process and best must be followed properly.
“MTSS is a component of MTEF and is a living document that must be revised periodically to review the sectoral budget performance of MDAs in the previous year, the lessons learnt are evaluated, while the component is adjusted for likely changes in the amount of money that will be allocated to each sector over the next three years.”
Olabimtan emphasised the need for the review to include, lean and unlimited resources, prioritisation of activities, programmes and projects, future recurrent cost implication, sequencing and most importantly for feedback and feed-forward purposes.
He appealed to heads of MDAs to ensure dedicated and virile Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) templates for result-based outcomes and quality service delivery for the people of the State, in order to collectively achieve the 85 per cent performance benchmark promised by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
In her welcome address, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Dada, applauded representatives of each sector for their past contributions, towards the yearly preparation of the budget since the introduction of the MTEF components, urging them to ensure robust engagement and intelligent interactions that would be in tandem with the vision and mission of the present administration in the State.
Lending his voice, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, who also is the Chairman of the Agriculture and Industry Sector, Mr. Olu Ola Aikulola, expressed delight and optimism at the review meeting, saying that MTSS Strategy requires the right data for planning purposes, calling on the stakeholders to be proactive to the course and ensure that they participate in further consultative meetings.
Contributing, his counterpart in the Ministry of Women and Social Development and Chairman, Social Protection Sector, Mrs. Melutia Ogunremi called for a clearer direction regarding the composition of Sectors, assuring that the Sector under her watch would ensure that the templates recommended were genuinely followed up for budget performance result-based outcomes.
Other recommendations at the mid-year review included the need to cut on Overheads and spend more on critical infrastructure, come up with a M&E logical framework, and ensure regular meetings and consultations amongst others.
