Makinde presents 2022 budget, says IGR to be increased without raising taxes

Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, has presented a budget of N294.5 billion for 2022 to the state house of assembly.

Speaking at the presentation on Wednesday, Makinde said in the ‘budget of growth and opportunities’, 18.37 percent of the budget is allocated to education, while 5.9 percent will be devoted to the health sector.

The governor said the state budgeted the huge sum to education in order to continue the tradition of keeping education allocation above the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) standards.

According to him, the performance of the 2021 budget is currently at 60 percent, adding that the state will continue to use agribusiness to drive its economy.

The governor also said the state is projecting an internally generated revenue (IGR) of N79 billion, which it intends to achieve without tax increment.

“For the first time, our proposed capital expenditure at 52.97 percent is more than our recurrent expenditure. A major project we will be carrying out in 2022 is 110km Ibadan circular road. This tolled road will be a major economic boost, as it will create an alternate entry and exit point out of Ibadan and connect the new economic corridor and business district we are building at Moniya,” he said.

“For the 2022 budget proposal, our budgetary allocation to the education sector at N54,116,773,764 represents 18.37 percent of the total budget. As can be noted, we have continued our tradition of keeping the education allocation above UNESCO standards. Our total proposed healthcare budget is N17,405,741,792, that is 5.9 percent of the budget.

“On the revenue side, the state’s actual aggregate revenue (for 2021) was N78.2 billion. For the 2022 fiscal year, we are projecting an internally generated revenue of N79,796,513,040. This is a tall order, but we intend to accomplish this without increasing taxes.

“As in the previous years, we will continue to expand our tax base to include more in the informal sector. We already see this working to our advantage as the recently-released figures show that our contributions to Nigeria’s value added tax shot up to over N64 billion.”