Governor Akinwunmi Ambode
The budget, tagged: “Budget of Progress and Development” is about N233.12 billion higher than the 2017 budget which stood at N812.99 billion, thus representing a 22.28% increase.
According to the governor, the 2018 budget has a capital expenditure of N699 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N347 billion, while the capital to the recurrent ratio of the budget stood at 67:33.
Ambode said the budget would focus on mandatory capacity building for civil servants, all teachers in public secondary/primary schools, officers in the health service sector and women and youth empowerment alongside Medium and Small/Micro Size Entrepreneurs (MSMSE’s).
Outlining the key components of the budget, Governor Ambode said capital expenditure would gulp N699.082billion while N347.039billion would be dedicated to recurrent expenditure, representing a Capital/Recurrent ratio of 67 percent to 33 percent and a 28.67 percent increase over Y2017 budget.
The governor said that despite the modest achievements recorded in 2017, there was still much work ahead, assuring that Government would not relent in its efforts to give Lagosians the best by way of continuous and efficient service delivery.
“Lagos has always been a trailblazer and we must consolidate on the economic gains made so far by initiating people-friendly programmes and projects that will attract more economic improvement in Y2018.
“It is our resolve in Y2018 to strive and complete all on-going projects in order to meet their specified completion period and embark on new strategic projects. We intend to improve on our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the face of the dwindling accruable revenue allocation from the Federal Government, sustain our vision on wealth creation and poverty alleviation,” Governor Ambode said.
The governor also listed key projects captured in the 2018 Budget to include the Agege Pen Cinema flyover; alternative routes through Oke-Ira in Eti-Osa to Epe-Lekki Expressway; the 8km regional road to serve as an 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.
On infrastructural renewal, Governor Ambode said his administration remained committed to sustaining the tempo of continuous construction, rehabilitation, upgrading and maintenance of network of roads across the State including those within the boundary areas of Lagos and Ogun States and that the bus reform initiative would be consolidated with the introduction of high and medium capacity buses, construction and completion of bus depots at Oshodi, Anthony, Yaba and many others.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa, has promised that the House would properly scrutinise the budget estimate of Year 2018, which figure was given as N1.046 Trillion.
In his speech during the presentation of the budget on Monday, Obasa assured the people of effective oversight by the lawmakers.
“This House will not rest on its oars of scrutinising this budget to deliver on its promises in meeting the aspirations of the people.
“As usual, we are duty-bound to painstakingly look at the nitty-gritty of the budget for the purpose of transforming same for the benefits of all Lagosians.
“I assure you that this House, through effective oversight, will ensure that the Year 2018 budget deliver on its promises to stimulate the economy of the state by focusing on infrastructure development, delivering inclusive growth and prioritising the welfare of Lagosians towards making the budget spell out its theme to the letter,” he said.
Obasa used the opportunity to commend the governor for the completion and commissioning of Abule-Egba and Ajah state-of-the-art flyovers.
The Speaker added that with the feat achieved by Governor Ambode merely two years in office, there was no doubting the responsiveness and readiness of “this noble House to continue to support the state through passage of people-oriented and development-focused legislations.”
“We are poised to cooperate with the Executive to develop an economy that is sustainable, smart and knowledge-based, and whose commitment to law and order is unequivocal,” he stated.
The Speaker added that the Y2018 Budget was aimed at continuous infrastructural development to bridge the infrastructural gap; transport, security and environmental reforms.
Others were given as capacity building for all civil and public servants, teachers and health workers; completion of housing estates; commencement of health insurance scheme among others.
He, however, urged the executive to see all the three arms of government as one, saying that it was obvious that working as a team would ensure prompt service delivery.
He said, “Working together, as we can see in the last two years, brings smooth effective administration. This is rightly put by Professor Ola Rotimi in his play Ovonramwen Nogbaisiand I quote: “the eyes and the nose are one; when one is hurt, the other shed tears.”
In his comment, the Acting Chairman of the House Committee on Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Rotimi Olowo stated that the state government would focus more on plugging all loopholes in tax collection.
Olowo stressed that a lot of people had either been evading taxes or underpaying taxes unlike what was obtainable in civilised societies.
He added that efforts would be made by the state government in conjunction with the House of Assembly to give the people the dividends of democracy.
Also speaking, the Acting Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Local, Hon. Bisi Yusuff said that budget was not a guess work and that the Lagos State Government would realise the budget estimate for the year.
According to Yusuff, who represents Alimosho Constituency 1, the state government has done well in 2017, adding that the government has been able to redefine governance in the state.
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“Once you do something good, the people would comply with your directives. Budget is based on empirical research and I can tell you that N1trillion is not too much for the state government to achieve in a year.
“If people say that are not satisfied with the performance with the government in 2017, even God does not satisfy people, they would still have complaints. I want to say that the state government has been able to do its best to satisfy the people,” he said.
On the focus for the 2018 Budget, Yusuff advised the state government to emphasise on road construction, healthcare and youth development as well as empowerment.
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