Mimiko
The Ondo State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has strongly condemned the 2013 budget of the Ondo State Government.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko had last week presented a budget proposal of N151billion to the Ondo State House of Assembly.
In a statement signed by state PDP Publicity Secretary, Wale Ozogoro, the party described the financial plan as “deceitful and meaningless.”
Ozogoro said: “However, the speaker who betrayed the lackadaisical treatment they will always give to appropriation bill from Mr. Governor was swift to assert that the bill will be passed with speed, without minding to properly, scrutinizing same.”
He noted that the budget was N6 billion lower than that of 2012, saying the incumbent “overloaded the (2012) budget with the singular intention of raising financial wherewithal to combat the peoples’ resolve to vote him out of power.”
“The government threw caution to the wind, with little or no regards for budget implementation, went ahead to plunge the state into perpetual indebtedness,” he added.
The spokesman argued that this year’s budget was full of contradictions; and that provision was not made for the payment of already obtained loans.
“The budget was silent on the intended foreign loan, already passed to the National Assembly. However, we are oblivious of the fact that the government could resort to her accounting management methodology, called the re-ordered budget, only used to cover unreasonable and unethical financial management.”
“However, this year’s budget had 77.65 billion for capital expenditure a little below that of last year,” he said
The PDP further decried the subdued oversight function by the state’s lawmakers.
“Since the tradition of budget scrutiny, implementation and oversight function of the House of Assembly are not religiously followed, this year’s budget could less be described as a budget of hopeless hope for the people of Ondo State.
“We shall continue to monitor the implementation of this failed budget only aimed at deceiving the general populace as usual. We shall not lose sight of the fact that the sum of 10 billion had been earmarked for completion of ongoing projects in the state.
“We are aware that yearly budget allocations for these ongoing projects have continued infinito,” the party said.
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