The Oyo State Government has rejected a report launched by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the State Budget Transparency Survey report, which placed the state as the least performing state of the federation on the ladder of online availability of budget documents for the year 2020.
The state government, which made its position known in a statement endorsed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Taiwo Adisa, insisted that the state’s budget information was, indeed, published on the state’s website.
The statement noted that in line with the open and transparent government being run by Governor ‘Seyi Makinde, the Ministry of Budget and Planning published the state’s budget information on https://oyostate.gov.ng/resources/
The statement, however, noted that the negative rating was due to the inability of the survey sponsors to access the website at the time of verification, adding that such a development should not amount to an indictment for the state.
According to the state government, a researcher of the State Budget Transparency Survey, who was the link with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning during the fieldwork for the survey, Mr Olamide Ogunlade, had equally confirmed that he was able to access the Oyo State Budget Information on the state’s website.
It added that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, and other transparency initiatives were able to access the state’s budget information easily, saying that the negative rating of the state was not a true representation.
