Lagos State government is targeting to achieve over 90 percent performance with its 2020 budget size of N1.168 trillion.
The 2020 budget, signed on Tuesday, December 31, by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is about 34 percent higher than 2019 election-year budget which stood at N874 billion.
The budget, which has about N723.75 capital expenditure component, which represents 62 percent, and recurrent expenditure of N444.81 billion, representing 38 percent of the total budget size, was passed by the House of Assembly on Monday, December 30, 2019.
This is going be Sanwo-Olu’s first full budget, as the 2019 budget, though signed into effect by him, was prepared and presented to the state House of Assembly by his predecessor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who exited government in May 2019.
Sanwo-Olu, while signing the appropriation bill into law, expressed the hope that his administration would achieve 90 percent in terms of implementation, just as he was optimistic that 2020 would be a prosperous year for the state’s economy and the over 22 million residents.
“Now is the time for members of the state’s executive council who will be implementing this budget to demonstrate their tenacity to the vision of achieving Lagos of our dreams. We must display the conviction that we can do the job given to us by all residents of Lagos.
“With the speedy passage of the budget, the responsibilities cut out for us have gained additional momentum and the effort to achieve our development agenda has just started, because this is first budget this administration will be implementing in full cycle. We are hopeful that we would have improved the quality of life of residents at the end of the budget year,” said Sanwo-Olu.
Sanwo-Olu, who praised members of the state House of Assembly for accelerated passage of the budget, said the legislators, by their action, aligned themselves with the overall interest of residents.
He added: “The happiness of the speedy passage of the budget is not for all of us in government, but for all the 22 million Lagosians on whose behalf we act and take the decision to make the state habitable and developed. When we fix the road, when we make the drainage flow better, when we turn around the services of our hospitals for good, when we ensure Lagos becomes a choice destination for investments and tourism, when we fully implement the budget, we would have given the people the voice to express their happiness.”
Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa, stated that with the budget now signed, the executive would be fired up to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of residents.
Obasa, who termed the noted budget “budget for all” said it was one that would care for all segments of the society. He called the executive to ensure that ministries, departments and agencies under them were active and alive in terms of revenue generation, just as he stressed the need to plug leakages.
This, he said, was necessary if the budget would be implemented and deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
JOSHUA BASSEY
