Lagos State Budgets N1.2 Trn For 2020

Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday presented a total budget of N1.16 trillion for 2020 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

The budget, according to the governor will be funded from a projected internally generated revenue (IGR) of N1.071 trillion, while the deficit component stood at
A breakdown of the budget titled, ‘Budget of Awakening’ shared by the Lagos State Government reveals that it will be funded by a projected total revenue of N1.071 trillion and a deficit amounting to N97.53 billion.
The deficit will be financed through internal and external loans.
Last month, the governor had made a request to the state legislators to approve a total of N250 billion loans and bond issuance to fund some projects in the 2019 budget.
Giving a breakdown of the budget tagged “Awakening to a Greater Lagos”, Sanwo-Olu tsaid 62 percent of total estimate would be expended on capital projects, while recurrent expenditure was put at 38 percent.
This translates to capital expenditure gulping N723.75 billion, while recurrent expenditure will take N444.81 billion.
A total of N167.81 billion of the recurrent expenditure will go for personnel costs and other staff-related expenses.
Sanwo-Olu said the proposed budget would help the State 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 will 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.
“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," the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu said that as at September 2019, our capital expenditure on works and infrastructure was just N31 billion, which is less compared with N78 billion proposed in the current year. It is our intention to spend N115 billion on physical infrastructure in 2020.
“In response to the perennial challenges of flooding in the metropolis, we have to triple the capital budget provision to tackle this observed problems from N3 billion in 2019 to N9 billion in 2020. We are embarking on massive desilting of major drain systems across the State next year.”
"The 2020 Budget will be supported by a Performance Management System that will ensure that, by December 2020, we shall achieve an optimal budget implementation when compared with previous years. This is in line with our commitment to transparency and accountability in the management of public finances.
“We have provided N11.8 billion as counterpart funds in preparation for various social impact schemes. In addition, we have made provisions for N7.1 billion this year, to provide for industrial hubs, parks, graduate internship programs and virtual markets for artisans. This is in support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which are the engines for both economic and employment growth.”