2026 budget: Oyebanji directs Ekiti LG chairmen to hold citizens’ engagements

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has directed local government chairmen in the state to hold citizens’ engagements before preparing their 2026 budgets.

Oyebanji said such engagements, similar to those conducted by his administration at the state level, would ensure that projects included in council budgets reflect the needs of the people.

The governor gave the directive on Friday at Otun Ekiti, headquarters of Moba Local Government, and Ijero Ekiti in Ijero Council during the Town Hall Meeting and Citizens’ Engagement for the 2026 budget preparation in Ekiti North and Ekiti Central Senatorial Districts.

The governor said, “The same way we (the state government) visit our people to ask for their requests to be included in the state budget, the local government chairmen should do the same. The local government chairmen should sit down with their people and consider their requests to be included in council budgets.

“I now direct all chairmen of LGAs and LCDAs to hold meetings with traditional rulers, community leaders, party leaders, representatives of interest groups, and I want to see the reports of such meetings. This should form part of the oversight functions of the House of Assembly.

“The 2026 budgets of the local governments should not be prepared without consultation with people living in such local government areas. This is very important and I want our council chairmen to consider doing what we are doing in terms of citizens’ engagement for budget preparation.”

Oyebanji restated his administration’s commitment to always connect with the people in the grassroots to involve them in governance.

Representatives of the 10 LGAs in the two senatorial districts presented their requests, which included township and inter-community roads, electricity, potable water, hospitals, schools, ambulances, palaces, security and empowerment initiatives.

Responding, Oyebanji promised to devote a significant portion of the 2026 budget to provide credit facilities for artisans and the informal sector to boost grassroots economy.

He, however, lamented that his administration had to repay over N2bn in unpaid micro-credit loans from past governments due to beneficiaries’ failure to return the funds.

The governor also highlighted gains from the state’s investment in commercial agriculture, saying young farmers in one of the clusters had earned over N1m in three months.

He noted that clearing more hectares of land had helped curb kidnapping and other criminal activities.

Oyebanji said the annual budget engagement exercise had yielded tangible results, with several community requests already implemented across the state.

He said, “This shows that this meeting is not a waste. There is no budget year that we have not implemented one or two things requested by each of our communities. We may not have attended to everything, but we have attended to a good number of requests of our people which can be seen in every part of the state.

You have a governor that listens, you have a governor that cares and you have a governor that knows where the shoe pinches. This is why at the fullness of time, we will come back to request for your votes and we will point to those things we have done and the promises we have fulfilled.”