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Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation today continued with the budget defence session by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government with a commendation the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on its ingenuity in achieving close to 100% of its internally generated revenue for the outgoing year.
The Committee Chairman, Hon. Musefiu Lamidi, joined by his Industry, Trade and Investment counterpart, Hon. Adebisi Oyedele lauded the Ministry for its revenue drive and other initiatives leading to the positioning of the State as the investment destination of choice in the country.
The lawmakers also tasked the Management of the Ministry to surpass the achievement recorded in outgoing year, describing the budget defence exercise as a process that would enhance the development plan of the State through the promotion of accountability, probity and compliance with due process.
Defending his Ministry’s 2025 budget estimates, the State Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hon. Adebola Sofola proposed a total budget expenditure of ₦5bn for the next fiscal year.
Giving the breakdown of the proposed budget, the Commissioner said that a sum of N2bn would go for capital expenditure, while N3bn was earmarked for recurrent, with N539m budgetted for personnel expenses and N2.5bn for overhead.
Shofela added that the expected revenue for the next fiscal year stood at ₦1.618bn; emphasizing that the primary objectives of the Ministry’s budget included re-evaluating the internally generated revenue streams to earn income for government and positioning the State as the industrial hub in the nation.
He noted that more initiatives would be put in place next year to promote entrepreneurship, as well as fostering the overall development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Other agencies that appeared for the budget defence session included the State Ministry of Justice, presenting a budget proposal of ₦242.9m, with capital expenditure put at N147.9m, with the recurrent expenditure put at N94.999m.
Presenting the budget proposal, the State Commissioner for Justice /Attorney General, Oluwasina Ogungbade, represented by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Segun Olaotan informed the lawmakers that the Ministry planned to embark on the publication of the various laws of the State, which was last done in 2006.
Other agencies that defended their budget proposals before the Assembly included the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, led by the State Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Mrs. ‘Funmi Efuwape, the Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC), Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs led by the Commissioner, Hon. Ganiu Hamzat, Bureau of Local Government Pension, Local Government Service Commission, State Judiciary, Judicial Service Commission, and Customary Courts of Appeal, amongst others.
