The Osun State House of Assembly will gain full financial autonomy by January 2022, the Speaker, Timothy Owoeye, has said.
Owoeye made the disclosure on Tuesday, in Osogbo, at the conclusion of the 2022 budget defence for Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Osun 2022 budget defence came to an end with the Office of the Governor, Osun House of Assembly and House of Assembly Commission taking their turns to defend their budgets.
The Speaker said that Governor Gboyega Oyetola had signed into law the state Assembly Autonomous Bill.
“We are starting Osun Assembly’s autonomy next year and the committee for its startup has already been setup.
“The governor, Gboyega Oyetola, is committed to giving the assembly autonomy. It’s just some administrative bottleneck that is still serving as impediment to having full fledge autonomy.
“By the grace of God, we are starting full fledged autonomy next year and this means we don’t have to take our files, financial demands, expenditure and salaries to the governor for approval again,” Owoeye said.
The Speaker, who pointed out that the autonomy did not translate to more money, lauded his colleagues for their dedication to the budget defence exercise.
Moruf Olanrewaju, Majority Leader of the House, presented the sum of N1.9 billion as the Assembly’s budget for year 2022.
(NAN).
