The Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, said on Monday that the legislative body would not shy away from its oversight functions of monitoring the implementation of the state’s 2020 budget when eventually passed into law.
Afuye said the contents of the 2020 budget proposal of N124.8bn presented to the Assembly by Governor Kayode Fayemi on Friday were not strange to the lawmakers.
This, he said, was because their constituents were part of the town hall meetings where they made inputs into the budget based on what they wanted the state government to do for them.
The speaker, who spoke in Ado Ekiti, said the lawmakers would however scrutinize the budget proposal thoroughly and ensured it was properly implemented.
Afuye said, “We are happy for the early submission of the appropriation bill. This should be the first time in the history of Ekiti when budget proposal will be laid before the Assembly in November.
“We will have enough time to study it and ensure that all the platforms are attended to. The governor has been able to articulate all the issues affecting the communities and these were put in the budget proposal in order of priority. The proposal is not strange to us, because we have been part of the process at the constituency level.
“We are familiar with the five pillars of the Fayemi-led government and our own legislative agenda will be presented to the public soon. The two must be in tandem and complement each other. The essence of government, whether judiciary, executive or legislature, is for the good of the people, I mean, good governance.
“What I can assure our people is that, this 2020 budget will consolidate the 2019 budget and by the time it is implemented, Ekiti will move to the next level. Salary issues and those things that affect the people directly won’t be joked with in 2020, because the people’s welfare is our priority.”
The speaker lauded the adherence to the principle of separation of powers and mutual respect among all the arms of government in the state.
He said gone were the days when an executive would assume the role of the legislature and even handled the gavel in the Assembly
