The Ondo State House of Assembly on Monday passed the N170.8 billion 2017 appropriation bill.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Sunday Olajide, had presented the report of the committee to the House at plenary.
Olajide said that the bill had undergone proper scrutiny by members while public sittings were held for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
He also said the assembly refrained from granting indiscriminate requests by MDAs because of paucity of funds.
He noted that the committee only redistributed funds to some critical areas, with a marginal increase of N1.12 billion recorded.
“Hence, the overall budgetary provision will now be N170,846,580,000,” he said.
Olajide highlighted the observation of the committee that the 2017 expenditure was carefully projected and set at sustainable level with due consideration for the present economic realities.
He said the committee, however, recommended that all MDAs should, ensure that the provisions in the budget were applied to the needs stated therein while the Board of Internal Revenue should make efforts to block all identified leakages.
The state government, he added, should take all the steps necessary to propel all income generating MDAs to embark on internally generated revenue drive in line with extant laws with a view to attaining their revenue target.
The Speaker of the House, David Oleyelogun, thanked all members of the committee for their efforts.
He also commended other members of the House for their cooperation and diligence while working on the appropriation bill.
The budget increased by N1.12 billion when compared with the N169,720,580 billion earlier presented by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on June 5.
The budget put the recurrent expenditure at N95.15 billion, capital expenditure at N59.18 billion, debt service at N8.12 billion and statutory transfer at N8.37 billion.
The House had unanimously approved the budget after members deliberated on the report of the committee.
Liberia’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Al-Hassan Conteh, has provided a briefing on Liberia to participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course of
the Nigerian Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Abuja.
The lecture, which included History and Governance, Foreign Policy, Liberia-Nigeria Relations, Economy, Investment Opportunities, Executive-Legislative Relations, and
Culture was held recently at the ISS in Bwari, Abuja.
The ISS is operated by the Department of State Services (DSS) of Nigeria.
Its curriculum includes country briefs on security and strategic topics whose effective management provide leadership lessons
useful to the participants and Nigeria.
This year’s theme, for the participants traveling
to Liberia is, “The Interplay of Executive-Legislative Relations in Liberia and How This Impacts on Development, Security and Other Strategic Issues.”
A release from the Liberian Embassy in Abuja says of the 52 participants drawn from 20 public
agencies undergoing the ISS ’Executive Intelligence Management Course
(EIMC), 10 are expected to undertake study tours of Liberia,
Ghana, Togo and Senegal this month.
A delegation of 16 participants is scheduled to depart Abuja for Monrovia on July 4, to embark on a one week
study visit to Liberia.
The delegation aims to research the relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches of the Liberian government and its impacts
on development, security and other strategic governance issues,
the release adds.
In his lecture on Executive-Legislative Relations in Liberia,
Amb. Conteh explained the several coordinate and coequal functions and activities of the Legislature and Executive branches as provided by the Liberian Constitution both in theory and practice.
He also lectured on the country’s foreign policy, whose guiding principles,
he said, are the maintenance of national security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.
It also seeks to promote peace and harmony based on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other
states, and cooperation in the international community based on the
virtues of democracy
Amb. Conteh described as excellent Liberia-Nigeria relations, as
evidenced by the strong bilateral partnership in development, security,
and regional cooperation between the two nations.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, his administration, and people across the spectrum of Nigeria take great pride and inspiration from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s record as the first democratically elected female African President, who has worked assiduously to turn around a war torn country to a post-conflict success story with political stability, sound economic growth and resilient peace-building,” he said.
Conteh recalled the revival of the Liberia-Nigeria Joint Commission in 2014, which intends to boost
much needed trade and investment activities
between the two countries.
The Deputy Director for Studies at the ISS, Dr. Abdulwahab
Wali, in his vote of thanks, lauded the Liberian Envoy
for the lecture.
According to Dr. Wali, the Ambassador’s Country Brief Lecture solves 90 percent of the problems in particular of the participants traveling to Liberia.
“With this type of Country Brief Presentation by Amb. Conteh, I am convinced that the team traveling to Liberia will achieve its goals,” Dr.
Wali remarked.
At the end of Amb. Conteh’s presentation, Adamu A. Dodo, Deputy Director of Research who heads the
team to Liberia, presented him with a plaque as
a mark of the institute’s appreciation.