The aggregate budgetary expenditure of the Lagos State government in the eight years of the out-going administration amounted to N2.749 trillion.
About N1,132, 269,772,148.33 was expended on 896 infrastructural projects which were certified by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget across the state.
Ben Akabueze, the commissioner for economic planning and budget, who made this known, Thursday, at a ministerial briefing, also put the average budgetary performance in the last eight years at 79 percent. According to Akabueze, the expenditure was funded with total revenue amounting to N2.433 trillion representing 89 percent of the total expenditure out of which 59 percent was from internally generated revenue (IGR).
The average sectoral allocation of the budget from 2008-2015 was broken down as follows: general public service, 23.70 percent; public order & safety, 3.12 percent; economic affairs, 31.58 percent; environmental protection, 8.56 percent; housing & community amenities, 9.17 percent; health, 7.66 percent; recreation, culture & religion, 1.52 percent; education, 14.09 percent; and social protection, 0.60 percent.
The commissioner noted that the first quarter of 2015 budget showed a 59 percent performance, as against 67 percent performance recorded over the same period in 2014, explaining that “the distractions of the protracted election season adversely impacted performance of the budget, in addition to the declining federal revenue allocations.”
Akabueze said that in line with Goal 8 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which requires all governments to develop a global partnership for development, the government had continued to reach out to development partners and always made necessary provisions in its annual budget for counterpart fund as a demonstration of its commitment to programmes/projects implementation with development partners.
The result of the commitment, according to him, was that the state enjoyed donors’ support to the tune of N15, 134,459,766 in the period under review while counterpart funding over the same period stood at N27, 245,245,687.
The commissioner noted that a total sum of N6, 899,896,013 was expended on 657 CGS projects covering health, environment, educational, water and sanitation sectors.
