From Michael Ofulue, Osogbo

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Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Osun State Government have defended  their budgets before the State House of Assembly as the exercise was consequently brought to a close.

The exercise, which lasted a period of two weeks,saw the Ministry of Works with the highest budget size of N43,097,284,760billion followed by the Ministry of Education with a budget size of N4,525,388,620billion and the Ministry of Environment with a total budget of N1,192,565,220billion.

The Chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Saheed Fatunmise thus admonished the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government that had appeared before the State Assembly for their 2024 proposed budget to implement it according to the figures defended and approved.

Fatunmise expressed that the budget size was a first of its kind but the propositions of the MDAs were such that will benefit the good people of the State.

He maintained that no Ministry has been found wanting in the area of budget padding, while applauding their ingenuity in revenue generation ideas.

The Commissioners for Finance, Mr Olusola Ogungbile and his counterpart in Economic Planning, Budget and Development, Prof. Maruf Adeleke  while expressing the feasibility of the year 2024 budget size, disclosed that Osun State still has some untapped revenue sources that will be focused on in the year 2024.

In another development, a proposition for an harmonized bill that will curb over-taxation, double taxation and prevention of revenue leakages was made.

The bill is expected to go through its third reading and final passage, before being forwarded to the state governor of the State.