The Ogun State Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo has said that the 2022 Appropriation Bill, christened “Budget of Restoration” would further cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the State and the people.

          Okubadejo, who disclosed this in Abeokuta while fielding questions from journalists on the sidelines of the presentation of 2022 Budget by the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, assured that the government would ensure the budget achieve higher performance rate than the previous years.

          “The concept of restoration itself was actually as a result of the devastating effect of COVID-19 pandemic experienced by all and sundry from 2020 to 2021 and all the initiatives that the current administration has put in place to ensure a faster recovery from the effect of the virus. That is the essence of the Budget of Restoration”, he said.

          While recalling that the State government established the Government Delivery Office to help monitor the performances, as well as challenges of key projects and proffer suggestions as to how it can deliver them efficiently, Okubadejo added that the 2022 budget was premised on consolidation of infrastructural development, human capital development and public sector transformation initiatives.

          He maintained that the digital initiatives put in place by the government has made it possible to consistently achieve a high budget performance over the year, expressing optimism that the trend would continue in the coming year to achieve an improved budget performance.

          “The allocation to human capital development is huge, and that is represented by our development pillar “S” in ISEYA, which means Social Welfare and Wellbeing, comprising Health, Housing, Environment, Physical Planning, Water and Waste management. These are the things that are essential for our people to have decent lives, as well as improve their wellbeing, as the government positions them to take full advantage of the economic development opportunities that have been created not only at the Federal level, but more importantly at the State level as well”, Okubadejo added.

          The Chief Economic Adviser stressed that the pursuit of a transformed public sector which led to the launch of OLARMS to improve access to land resources, create efficient and accountable process for the acquisition of land and other initiatives of the government, have improved its revenue generation drive.