Lagos – Lagos Assembly Set to Commence work on Budget Estimate, Invites Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The Lagos State House of Assembly has ordered all its standing committees to commence work on the budget estimates for 2017 by inviting Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of governments for the defense of the proposals.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, while presiding over the plenary, directed the committees to report to the House committee on Budget and Economic Planning within two weeks.
The House resolved to go ahead with the invitation of the MDAs having read the first and second readings simultaneously of the budget proposal as presented by the State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode.
The governor, had on Tuesday, November 29, presented a budget proposal of N813billion to the House of Assembly, assuring that the budget would be judiciously implemented to continue the massive infrastructural renewal and the enhancement of Lagos as one of the foremost tourism and investment destinations in Africa.
The Governor, who christened the 2017 budget the “Golden Jubilee Budget” as it coincides with the State’s 50th Anniversary, said it would focus on physical infrastructure, while social sectors especially health, education, youth and social development would get adequate attention.
Giving the key components of budget, Governor Ambode said recurrent expenditure would gulp N300.535billion while N512.464billion would be dedicated to capital expenditure, representing a Capital/Recurrent ratio of 63 percent to 37 percent.
The lawmakers who took turns to debate the components of the estimates, expressed satisfaction over the proposal, saying the readiness of the state government to spend more on capital expenditure indicated the sensitivity of government to the plight of the people.
Some of the lawmakers were afraid by the fears of the public on the possibility of government to be able to generate 70 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as proposed by the Governor.
commenting, Chairman House committee on Public Account (local), Bisi Yusuff, stated that the budget proposal would address the challenges of unemployment.
In addition, Chairman House committee on Waterfront, Gbolahan Yishawu, however cautioned his colleagues to properly scrutinise the budget very well, especially some of the roads to be constructed which had been categorized under Public Private Partnership (PPP) road projects.
The Chief Whip, Rotimi Abiru expressed reservation over the ability of the state government to generate the 70 percent IGR being proposed by the Governor.
