Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has given his approval for the promotion of over 7,000 civil and public servants. The deadline for their promotions was set for 2022. Speaking at a media briefing on the 7th State Executive Council (SEC) meeting of Omituntun 2.0, Prince Dotun Oyelade, the commissioner for information and orientation, highlighted that this development aligned with the government’s worker welfare policy over the past four years.
The Seyi Makinde-led administration has overseen the promotion exercises from 2017 to 2021, resulting in the advancement of 7,276 civil servants as confirmed by the commissioner.
Professor Musbau Babatunde also revealed that the council approved the reorganization of the 2023 supplemental budget, which will be presented to the Oyo State House of Assembly for approval. This decision was driven by changes in the state’s macroeconomic fundamentals concerning inflation, exchange rates, and interest rates, stemming from the economic policies of eliminating subsidies and unifying the exchange rate.
Despite the higher costs, the state government has given priority to ongoing projects, as stated by the commissioner. Ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) have also requested the alignment of their current budget performance with the changes in macroeconomic fundamentals.
The approved 2023 budget has seen an increase from N310 billion to N352 billion, according to Professor Musbau Babatunde. Additionally, idle funds of some MDAs have been realigned to reflect the state of the economy.
The decisions made during the meeting will be integrated into the realigned supplemental budget. Moreover, ongoing negotiations between the Oyo State government and the Nigeria Labour Congress were mentioned by Babatunde.
Furthermore, the exco has approved the medium-term expenditure framework (2024–2026), laying the groundwork for the 2024 budget. The approved amount for this framework is N424.410 billion, reflecting a 19.49 percent increase over the pre-empted figure for 2023, amounting to N69.237 billion more than the N355.172 billion.