Sanwo-Olu signs 2019 budget of N873.532b

• promises deployment of all govt. machinery to achieve full implementation

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday signed the state 2019 Appropriation Bill and three other bills into law.

The new Capital Expenditure stands at N479.691 billion while Recurrent Expenditure is N393.841 billion, which ratio 55-45 per cent.

The signing of the Appropriation bill into law ends many months of controversies between the executive and legislative arms. The budget size is N873.532 billion.

The immediate past governor, Akinwunmi Ambode submitted N852.317 billion to the House of Assembly on February 5, while the legislative house on April 29 passed the bill after increasing it by N21.215 billion.

The approval came more than 80 days after Ambode had presented the bill the legislative.

Three other bills the governor signed into law are The Domestic Staff Service Provider Registration Law 2019; Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission (Amended) Law 2019 the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency Law.

Speaking at the signing ceremony which took place at the State House, Ikeja, Sanwo-Olu said it was an exciting day for Lagosians as the law would be implemented to the fullest for their benefits.

He said he was aware that the year was far gone, saying that his administration would deploy the state’s full machinery for effective performance of the budget.

According to him, “the eight Assembly has been effective in their duties. I am aware that the year is far gone but we will ensure that we quickly deploy all machinery of government in other to achieve full utilization and performance of the budget.

“We will ensure that all the lines that you have laid will be fully adhered to, in other to ensure that citizens enjoy the benefit of government. As observed, the budget is a 55 to 45 percent, if we are lucky and push on our revenue side, it is not unlikely that before the end of the year, we will not sit to look at the budget again.”

In his words: “The appropriation bill touches the lives of all residents of the state. We will quickly get to work. There were expenses that were incurred by the immediate past administration because the former governor has the right to spend certain percentage of the budget before it was signed into law.

“The signing today will help us to disaggregate to the respective ministries, Agencies and departments. So we will need to push on both the revenue and expenditure parts of the budget. This is to ensure that residents of the state feel the impact of the budget that is just signed into law.

“We will push on the capital revenue side, especially on our revenue and see what are the creative means of financing that we can bring on board within the law, to ensure that citizens feel the benefit of democratic government.”

Speaking on the other laws Sanwo-Olu said, “This law on domestic staff will help residents of the state on whoever they are employing to work as domestic staff in their house.

“The law on the House of Assembly commission is centered on enhancing the House, to work efficiently. It will give the Lagos House free space to operate in the state. It will assist them to implement the full autonomy stipulated by law”, the governor said.