Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill with provisions totalling N1,046,121,181,680 and recently passed by the House of Assembly into law.
The total budget size comprises of N347, 038, 938, 872.00 to be funded from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and N699, 082, 242,808.00 from the Development Fund for both capital and recurrent expenditure for the year ending 31st December, 2018.
Highlighting the key components of the budget, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Olusegun Banjo, disclosed that capital expenditure would gulp N699.082 billion, representing 67 percent of the budget compared to the N347.039 billion provided as recurrent expenditure, accounting for the 33 per cent balance of the appropriation provisions.
When compared with last year’s budget, the current year’s budget is 28.67 percent higher.
Also captured as key capital projects in the budget are, the Agege Pen Cinema flyover; alternative routes through Oke-Ira in Eti-Osa to Epe-Lekki Expressway; the 8 km Regional Road to serve as alternative route to connect Victoria Garden City (VGC) with Freedom Road in Lekki Phase I; completion of the on-going reconstruction of Oshodi International Airport Road into a 10-lane road and the BRT Lane from Oshodi to Abule-Egba.
A sectoral breakdown of the budget indicated that General Public Services got N171,623bn, representing 16.41 per cent; Public Order and Safety, N46.612bn or 4.46 percent; Economic Affairs, N473,866bn, representing 45.30 percent; Environmental Protection, N54,582bn or 5.22 percent, and Housing and Community Amenities got N59,904bn, representing 5.73 per cent.
Health sector got N92.676billion, representing 8.86 per cent; Recreation, Culture and Religion got N12.511billion, representing 1.20 per cent; Education got N126.302billion representing 12.07 per cent, while Social Protection got N8.042billion representing 0.77 per cent.
The budget also provided for completion of the five new Art Theatres; establishment of an Heritage Centre at the former Federal Presidential State House recently handed over to the State Government; a world class museum between the former Presidential Lodge and the State House, Marina; construction of four new stadia in Igbogbo, Epe, Badagry and Ajeromi Ifelodun (Ajegunle) and completion of the on-going Epe and Badagry Marina projects.
On Housing, there are provisions for completion of on-going projects especially those at Gbagada, Igbogbo, Iponri, Igando, Omole Phase I, Sangotedo and Ajara-Badagry under the Rent-to-Own policy, among others.
The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, projected that IGR would hit N897 billion this year, while the remaining part of the budget would be funded through borrowing.
He explained: “Today is a good day in our State, the Governor just signed the 2018 Appropriation Law. For the first time the Law has about N1.046trillion as total amount that we would spend in 2018.
“The Budget is tagged “Budget of Progress and Development” and in terms of capital and recurrent expenditure, we have 63 per cent Capital and 37 per cent Recurrent and that shows that we are really big on infrastructural renewal.
“In terms of revenue, we are expecting a total of N897billion both from the State and Federal receipts, so the rest would be funded through budget deficit financing. We are focusing this year on completing all projects that we have started knowing fully well that people would say that this is an election year, but the Governor is focused on delivering the dividends of democracy; we are not slowing down, we want to really ensure that we touch every aspect of Lagos that needs to be touched in terms of infrastructural renewal, welfare and other things that the Governor promised,” Ashade added.
It would be recalled that while presenting the 2018Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly, Governor Ambode, promised that his administration would complete all ongoing projects as well as initiate new ones to consolidate on the development recorded in the last two and half years.
According to him, the “Budget of Progress and Development”, would be used to consolidate on the achievements recorded in infrastructure, education, transportation/traffic management, security and health sectors, among others.
