January 30, 2018

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the state’s 2018 appropriation bill of N1,046 trillion into law.

The passage followed the adoption of the report and recommendations of the House Adhoc Committee on Budget and Economic Planning, headed by Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu.

The house approved N347. 039 billion as total recurrent expenditure from the consolidated revenue fund.

It also approved N699. 082 billion as the total capital expenditure from the development revenue fund for the year ending Dec. 31, 2018.

Yishawu, while presenting the committee’s report, said that efforts should be made to reduce total overhead cost of the state.

The lawmakers, who took turns to commend the nine-man ad hoc committee for a job well done, however, called for quick consideration of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) scheme.

Hon. Setonji David, the Acting Chairman, House Committee on Physical Planning and Urban Development said: “there are so many arrangements going on in PPP that the house does not know about’’.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Muyiwa Jimoh, said that PPP should be on its own and not operate under any ministry.

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, also commended Yishawu and members of the committee for thorough scrutiny of the budget within a short time frame.

The house passed the bill after Obasa conducted a voice vote on each of the sectoral allocations for ministries, departments and agencies.

Obasa directed the Acting Clerk of the House, Mr Azeez Sanni, to send a copy of the bill to Gov. Akinwnmi Ambode for his assent.

The house adjourned its plenary until Feb. 1

Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ambode had on Dec. 11, 2017 presented the proposed “Budget of Progress and Development’’ to the assembly.

On Dec.18, the house set up a nine-man committee to scrutinise the budget proposal of N1.046 trillion.

The budget size, which represents a 28.67 per cent increase over the 2017 budget of N812 billion, is the highest in the history of the state.