Makinde Approves Promotion of  7,000 Civil Servants in Oyo

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has approved the promotion of all civil and public servants whose promotions were due in 2022.

The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, who made the disclosure yesterday, while briefing journalists at the end of the 7th Executive Council meeting, said the development, was consistent with government’s policy on workers’ welfare in the past four years.

He said the administration of Governor Makinde conducted the 2017-2021 promotion exercises between 2017 and 2021, stating that the governor has given approval for the conduct of the promotion of 7, 276 civil servants.

The state Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Musbau Babatunde, on his part, said the executive council approved the realignment of the 2023 supplementary budget which would be presented to the state House of Assembly for approval.

According to him, the decision was necessitated by the twin economic policy of subsidy removal and the unification of exchange rate which led to some shifts in macro-economic fundamentals in the state in respect to inflation, exchange and interest rates, noting that the state government took into consideration certain projects that are going on which have overshot by inflation.

He added that the requests by MDAs on the need to situate their current budget performance in the context of the shift in macroeconomic fundamentals were also considered, stating that the increment in the 2023 budget size  from  N310,432,500,000  to N352,382,500,000.00.

The commissioner stated further that idle funds in some MDAs have been realigned  in line with the current economic realities, noting that the state government is currently negotiating with the state chapter of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and decisions taken from the meeting will be included in the realigned supplementary budget.

The commissioner also disclosed that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (2024-2026) on which the 2024 budget will be premised has been approved by the executive council, stating that the approved figure is  N424,410,611,938.00.

According to him, this is an increase of over sixty-nine billion naira, N69,237,658,025.00, which represents 19.49 per cent over the 2023  figure of over three hundred and gifty-five billion naira, N355,172,953,913.00.

He maintained that the current realigned budget of

N352,382,500,000.00, mirrors the state government’s projection perfectly for year 2023.

“We expect the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to be a good guide for the fiscal balance of the year 2024 budget”, he said.

Babatunde added that the executive council similarly approved the implementation of the state social protection document developed in conjunction with UNICEF, stating that the implementation department which will be supervised by his office with the support of relevant agencies will reduce the challenges of poverty incidents in the state.