Governor Fayose presents N93.4bn budget in army camouflage

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, on Tuesday presented a N93.4bn Budget for 2017 tagged, “Budget of Higher Height” to the state House of Assembly in Ado Ekiti.



The governor also announced that he would go to the mountain on December 14 and return on December 21 with predictions for Nigeria.

Stating that almost all his predictions for 2016 had come to pass, Fayose alleged that there were plans by the Federal Government to place Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State under house arrest on Thursday – two days before the legislative rerun elections in the state.
“There is a grand plan to put Governor Wike under house arrest and if he resists, his life will come to an end,” he said.

The governor, who was clad in a military camouflage, lamented that security challenges in the country had made things worse, adding that robbery and kidnapping had become the order of the day.
“It is quite horrifying; Nigeria is moving towards a one-party state. The disobedience against court order. It is shameful that the Federal government is sponsoring rally against court judgments. Today, the judiciary is blackmailed to submission.

“We beg the international community not to look away; Nigerians are suffering, human rights abuses are on the rise.”

For the 2017 budget, the Recurrent Expenditure is ‎N55.02bn which is 59 percent of the budget, while ‎Capital Expenditure is N38.42 bn or 41 percent of the estimates.

The budget is 33 percent higher than the N70.5bn presented for 2016. The governor explained that the increment was due to the economic recession and high exchange rate of dollar.

However, there was a mild drama during presentation when Fayose said he was the one in charge at the assembly that Speaker Kola Oluwawole was only holding brief for him.

“I’m the speaker, he (Oluwawole) is on that sit on my behalf. He is the Acting Speaker; therefore he cannot be wrong.  If he is wrong, we will take it to the government house and resolve it. Therefore, I will pass the budget myself.”

Fayose, while appraising the 2016 Budget, said the state only recorded 89 percent performance due to unfavorable economic climate in the country, which according to him, negatively affected the state government.
‎He said out of proportional estimated revenue of N58.7bn for 2016, only N52.4bn was realised as actual revenue.