The Osun State Government claims that N702 million will be provided for meals and entertainment in 2024 for the governor’s and the government secretary’s offices.
It was revealed during budget analysis in Osogbo by the Commissioner for Budget, Professor Ademola Adeleke.
The suggestion that N11 billion was spent on entertainment and meals was refuted by Adeleke.
In the Office of the Governor, which includes the governor, deputy, and chief of staff offices, the Bureau of General Services, the Bureau of Government House and Protocol, the Bureau of Parastatal, and the Bureau of Social Services, he added, around N8 billion was set aside for all ongoing expenses.
A mere N600 million of the N8 billion was set aside for entertainment and meals, the commissioner continued.
He stated that the Office of the Secretary to the State Government had been given nearly N3 billion, of which N102 million had been set aside for amusement and meals.
It is an outright lie to say that N11 billion was set aside for meals and amusement in the governor’s and SSG’s offices. It is not accurate at all.
“The office of the governor comprises about seven different agencies, like the office of the deputy governor, the office of the chief of staff, the bureau of general services, bureaus of government house and protocol, and the bureau of parastatals.
“All these sub-agencies are referred to as the office of the governor. That is the entire conglomerate of the office of the governor that was allocated about N8billion for total recurrent expenditure, out of which only N600million is for meals and entertainment.
“The Office of the SSG has a total recurrent of about N3billion. It is that amount that was added to N8billion to make the N11billion that they claimed. Only N102million was allocated for meals and entertainment for the office,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adeleke disclosed that out of the 273.9 billion 2024 budget, education sector was allocated N38.9 billion, making 14.21 per cent, infrastructure sector got N57.2 billion, which is 20.89 per cent, and human capital development sector got 39.2 billion, which is 14.34 per cent of the total budget.
In December 2023, SaharaReporters exclusively reported how N6billion was spent by Adeleke to run the “Office of the Governor” in three months.
According to a copy of the state budget performance report between July-September 2023, the amount is different from the N209 million spent on personal expenditure in the governor’s office.
