The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Sunday signed into law the 2015 Appropriation Bill with a pledge that his administration would continue to render service to Lagosians until the end of his tenure.
The 2015 Appropriation Bill, with the size of 489.69 billion Naira, was presented to the State House of Assembly on Monday, November 24, 2014 with Capital to Recurrent ratio put at 51:49 for Year 2015, which is the same as Year 2014 budget.
In his remarks before signing the Budget at the Lagos House, Marina, Governor Fashola said: “As an article of faith, the way any government treats its budget defines how determined, how focused and how serious that government is in terms of service delivery to its citizens”.
The Governor, who noted that there were talks in some circles that budgets would be delayed as a result of the fact that elections were in the air, declared: “I don’t think that there is any legitimate excuse for it for a government that has been able to plan and implement its plan”.
On why the event was held on a Sunday, Governor Fashola explained that the APC had called for a National Meeting in Abuja on Monday, January 12, adding that “the flexibility and adaptability” of his administration has made it easy to call the event forward instead of pushing it backwards.
He told reporters shortly after the event that although there were financing challenges when he presented the budget in 2014, but because the State’s revenue has been based largely on the common contributions of Lagosians, the economy had remained sustainable.
Also addressing reporters, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Ben Akabueze, said with the signing of the budget into law, the pace of implementation would be intensified as government agencies could now access the full estimates provided for them in the budget.
The Commissioner explained that agencies of the government were allowed by law to access only the provisional estimates of 25 per cent before the signing of the budget, explaining that the signing of the budget would enable the government agencies “fire at all fronts from tomorrow” (Monday).
Reiterating that the present administration would continue to render service to Lagosians till the very last day, Akabueze hinted that the administration would soon announce the performance of the 2014 Budget. He said the State was not immune to the economic challenges facing the nation.
He, however, expressed joy that 70 per cent of the State Government’s budget would be financed through its own internally generated revenues. “Although the budget size is 489 billion Naira, that amount will be generated by the government throughout the year over the next 12 months.
“The budget is an estimate of revenues and expenditures that will accrue to this State; the revenue that will accrue over the next 12 months as well as expenditures that we will need to incur”, the Commissioner explained, adding that “the overall budget size remains at 489.69 billion Naira just a little short of 490 Billion Naira, of which 248 billion Naira approximately will be spent on Capital Expenditures and 241 billion Naira as Recurrent Expenditure”.
