Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr Kayode Fayemi on Friday presented the 2020 budgets of N1.293trn to their respective state houses of assembly.
Sanwo-Olu during his presentation of N1.168tn to the state House of Assembly said the proposed budget christened: “The Budget of Awakening to a Greater Lagos,” would give priority to the completion of ongoing projects.
He said the budget would be funded by projected total revenue of N1.071tn and a deficit of N97.53bn.
Fayemi, who also proposed a 2020 Appropriation Bill of N124.7bn to the state House of Assembly, said the budget, christened ‘Budget of Deliverables’ would consolidate on the 2019 budget with which he said his administration had laid a solid foundation for the transformation of the state along the line of its five-pillar agenda for development.
Sanwo-Olu said the proposed budget would help the state to achieve a sustainable social investment and scale up private sector-led economic growth through investment in infrastructure and security.
He said it would also improve civic engagement in governance and foster partnership with the Federal Government and the civil society.
Explaining why his administration would be earmarking huge funds to the environment and public infrastructure, the governor said Lagos had been facing combined threats from population explosion and climate change.
He said, “Lagos faces an existential threat, arising from the interplay of demographic and climate change. Lagos will continue to be a magnet for multitudes within and outside Nigeria, in search of jobs and economic prosperity. These levels of migration put a phenomenal strain on the physical and fiscal resources of the state.
“This budget seeks to aggressively invest in and develop our education, health, and other physical infrastructure sectors. As of September 2019, our capital expenditure on works and infrastructure was just N31bn, which is less compared with N78bn proposed in the current year. We intend to spend N115bn on physical infrastructures in 2020.
“In response to the perennial challenges of flooding in the metropolis, we have to triple the capital budget provision to tackle these observed problems from N3bn in 2019 to N9bn in 2020. We are embarking on massive desilting of major drain systems across the state next year.”
The Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, promised the Assembly would ensure speedy passage of the budget and make it a “New Year” gift for people.
In Ekiti State, the appropriation has N53.5bn, representing 43 per cent as capital expenditure, while the recurrent expenditure is N71.2bn, representing 57 per cent of the total budget estimate targeted at enhancing good governance and speedy economic transformation of the State.
Fayemi said his administration was determined to revamp the socio-economic environment through “distinctive measures and approaches which are conceptualized and aligned with the fiscal framework of the state.”
The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, said the lawmakers would work on the budget proposal to pass it into law before the end of 2019.
Culled: Punchng
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