The Ondo  State House of Assembly, on Monday, passed the  N170.8 billion  2017  appropriation bill.

Chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Sunday Olajide, had presented  the report of the committee to the House at plenary.

Olajide said that the bill had  undergone  proper scrutiny by  members  while public sittings were held  for all Ministries, Departments  and Agencies.

He also said  the assembly refrained from   granting indiscriminate requests  by MDAs because of paucity of  funds.

He noted that the committee only redistributed funds to  some critical areas,  with a marginal increase of  N1.12 billion recorded.

“Hence, the overall budgetary provision will now be N170,846,580,000,” he said.

Olajide highlighted the observation of the committee that the 2017 expenditure was carefully projected and set at sustainable level with due consideration for the present economic realities.

He said the committee, however, recommended that all MDAs should, ensure that the provisions in the budget were applied to the needs stated therein while the  Board of Internal Revenue should make efforts to block all identified leakages.

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The state government, he added, should take all the steps necessary to propel all income generating MDAs to embark on internally generated revenue drive in line with extant laws with a view to attaining their revenue target.

The Speaker of the House, David Oleyelogun,  thanked  all members of the committee for their efforts.

He also commended other members of the House for their cooperation and diligence while working on the appropriation bill.

The budget increased by N1.12 billion when compared with the N169,720,580 billion earlier presented by Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu  on June 5.

The budget  put the  recurrent expenditure at  N95.15 billion, capital expenditure at N59.18 billion, debt service at N8.12 billion and statutory transfer at N8.37 billion.

The Assembly had unanimously approved the budget after members deliberated on the report of the committee. (NAN)