Ogun State Governor,  Prince Dapo Abiodun has said that 203 inputs representing 95 percent of demands made at the citizens Town Hall Meetings held across the four Divisions of the State have been incorporated into the State budget proposal for year 2023.

Disclosing this today at the Treasury Board Meeting held at the Oba's Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, governor Abiodun noted that it was imperative adequate funds are located to areas that would have direct impact on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people.

According to the governor, "2023 budget is more important than the previous ones. We need a holistic constitution of our needs and judicious application of our limited resources to areas that bears on the welfare of the citizenry.

"We will try to sustain all our developmental projects spread across the State that have significant impact on our citizenry. Our agenda will stand as a guide and be our focus for achieving greater heights. A lot of infrastructural development spread across the State shall be sustain while ensuring that all ongoing projects will be given the desired attention towards completion", he said.

Governor Abiodun posited that the Town Hall Meetings, apart from being an avenue to reach out to more citizens to harness their inputs into the 2023 budget, was also an important aspect in his administration's inclusive governance in budget preparation.

The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), the governor emphasized was not meant to produce budget but how to develop good policies through the retooling of budget, saying it was important to think of each stage of the budget process in terms of roles in developing and implementing the State policies.

"An important legacy of this administration is the establishment of best practices in the way of public finance management which we are running. We aimed to consolidate on the global best practices in public financial management reforms that we embark on since year 2019.

He said his administration has introduced the Medium Term Revenue Strategy which is an improvement from the traditional expenditure to revenue driven budget by identifying and working on the major revenue generating agencies with a view to enhancing and sustaining revenue mobilisation, collection and enforcement.

The State fiscal policy, Prince Abiodun maintained is based on providing the enabling business environment for private and public sectors partnership through improving the efficiency and effectiveness of key processes including land administration, business registration, construction permit, land titling and the provision of key infrastructure and incentives to attract more investors to the State.

While assuring that budget would be all embracing, the governor stated that his administration has internalized policies to ensure efficiency and value for government spending as well as maintained an optimal balance in capital and recurrent expenditure in order to achieve micro economy stability and sustainable development.

In his welcome address, the Commissioner Budget and Planning, Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan, said the state was committed to a better atmosphere for businesses to thrive, while government would continue to deliver quality services to the people.

He said the meeting was consider how much is needed, how to raise, allocate and account for the funds, urging all stakeholders to be active participants in ensuring a budget that would be people's friendly.

The Economic Adviser and Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Okuboyejo, in his remarks, said the budget was meant to stimulate the post COVID-19 State economy by upscaling infrastructure and other sectors that would engendered sustainable growth in the State.

Highlights of the meeting is the presentation of by heads of  ministries, agencies and departments, their budget estimate for 2023.