Ambode finally presents 2019 budget

Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos state, has finally presented the year 2019 budget to the state house of assembly.

The governor had met a brick-wall in his bid to present the budget on previous occasions.

Lawmakers had accused him of incurring expenses from the budget without presenting it, threatening to commence impeachment proceedings against him.

But leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, including Bola Tinubu, had reconciled the governor and the aggrieved lawmakers on Sunday.

Two days after, Ambode presented a proposal of N852.316 billion before the assembly, saying it had been carefully prepared to be all-encompassing and dedicated to complete major ongoing projects in the state.

The governor said N462.757billion representing 54 percent of the total budget size had been earmarked for capital expenditure, while N389.560billion representing 46 percent had been dedicated to recurrent expenditure.

He said key projects such as the Oshodi-Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road and Oshodi Interchange Terminal, among others would be completed.

He said from inception of his administration, nine key areas were given priority after careful assessment of the needs of the citizens, adding that such had informed the massive investment in the said sectors which he listed to include security, transport / traffic management, economy -including tourism and agriculture, housing, education, health, infrastructure – social and physical, water, wealth creation – skill acquisition/microfinance, e-Governance and enhanced capacity building, sustainable environment and smart city projects.

Giving details of what informed the budget size, Ambode said the performance of the 2018 budget of N1.046trn as of November 2018 stood at 60 percent owing to reduction in revenue projections, while the total revenue stood at N530.192 billion.

According to him, “In the outgoing year, however, we experienced a reduction in our revenue projections, which affected our projected performance and our desired implementation of the Y2018 Budget. The overall Budget performance as at November 2018 stood at 60 per cent/N574,206billion with actual cumulative total revenue of N530,192billion/64 per cent, Capital Expenditure closed at N311,930billion/49 per cent and Recurrent Expenditure performed at N262,276billion/82 per cent.

“In preparing the Year 2019 Budget, therefore, we were very mindful of the out-going year performance, the yearnings of our people and the fact that we are going into an election year. Consequently, we are today presenting a Budget that will be all-encompassing, reflect the level of resources that will be available and with special consideration to the completion of major on-going projects in the state.”