Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State has spent N293,334,937.21 on meals and refreshments as well as N288,237,280 on welfare packages in three months (July-September 2023) as captured in the state budget performance report.
However, in the report, the state government recorded zero allocations for items such as “provision of electricity and water facilities, hospitals and health centres, public schools and libraries” in the three months under review.
The report, titled “Ekiti State Government Budget Performance Report For 2023 Quarter 3” was “produced by the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Office of the State Accountant-General, Office of the State Auditor-General and Internal Revenue Service which constitute Fiscal Coordinating Agencies and published on the Ekiti State website.
The report noted that “This report includes the original approved Budget appropriation for the year 2023 against each organizational unit for each of the core economic classification of expenditure (Personnel, Overheads, Capital and Others), the actual expenditure for the Quarter (Q3) attributed to each organisational unit, as well as the cumulative expenditure for year to date and balances against each of the revenue and expenditure Appropriations.”
According to the report on Pages 43 and 44, Governor Oyebanjo-led Ekiti State government spent a total sum of N293,334,937.21 on meals and refreshments while the sum of N67,608,446 was spent on honorarium and sitting allowance for government officials for the three months
The document further showed that the sum of N288,237,280 was spent on welfare packages, while N63,200,000 was spent on international medical expenses.
Meanwhile, the budget performance report showed that Governor Oyebanji-led Ekiti State government approved no funding for provision of public schools; provision of libraries; provision of hospitals/health centres; provision of electricity and provision of Water facilities for the people of the state from the Q1 to the Q3 of 2023. This is against the background of reports of the sorry state of some public and secondary schools in Ekiti State which are currently in life-endängering conditions.
Many health facilities in the state are also said to be in a terrible state with shortages of medical supplies and medical personnel. According to the report on Page 45, the government spent N8million on the provision of agricultural facilities while N2.2million was spent on agricultural extension and farming
projects.
