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The Osun State Government has addressed the controversy surrounding the allocation of N702 million for meals and entertainment in the offices of the governor and secretary to the government in the 2024 budget.
Commissioner for Budget, Professor Ademola Adeleke, clarified during a budget analysis in Osogbo that the claimed N11 billion allocation for meals and entertainment is inaccurate. He detailed that out of the N8 billion allocated for the total recurrent expenditure in the Office of the Governor, only N600 million was earmarked for meals and entertainment. Similarly, the Office of the Secretary to the State Government received a total recurrent allocation of about N3 billion, with N102 million allocated for meals and entertainment.
Adeleke emphasized that the N11 billion figure resulted from combining the budgets of multiple agencies under the Office of the Governor, debunking claims of an inflated allocation solely for meals and entertainment.
Additionally, he disclosed sectoral allocations in the 2024 budget, with the education sector receiving N38.9 billion (14.21%), infrastructure sector obtaining N57.2 billion (20.89%), and human capital development sector allocated N39.2 billion (14.34%).
The clarification comes amid previous reports of N6 billion spent on the "Office of the Governor" in three months, as revealed in the state budget performance report between July-September 2023.
