Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday presented a budget of N1.046 trillion to the State House of Assembly for approval.

The budget represents 28.6 percent increase over the 2017 budget of N812 billion.

The budget has a Recurrent Expenditure of N347 billion and a Capital Expenditure of N699 billion. The budget has Capital/Recurrent Ratio 67:33.

Presenting the budget to the State House of Assembly on Monday in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Ambode said budget christened “Budget of Progress and Development” would be used to consolidate on infrastructure, education, transportation/traffic management, security and health with an added emphasis on mandatory capacity building for civil servants, all teachers in public secondary / primary schools, officers in the health service sector and women and youth empowerment alongside our Medium and Small/Micro Size Entrepreneurs (MSMSE’s).

In the proposed budget, the estimated total revenue for 2018 stood at N897.423 billion of which N720.123 billion will be generated internally, while a total of N148.699 billion will be sourced through deficit financing within the medium term expenditure framework.

In the budget, Economic Affairs has the highest allocation of N473.866 billion, followed by General Public Service, which stands at N171.62 billion while Education came third with N126.3 billion and Health following closely with N92.67 billion.

Others are: Public Order and Safety, N46.61 billion; Environmental Protection, N54.58 billion; Housing and Community Amenities, N59.9 billion; Recreation, Culture and Religion, N12.5 billion and Social Protection, N8.042 billion.

Ambode said it was the desire of government to maintain the tempo of continuous construction, rehabilitation, upgrading and maintenance of network of roads throughout the length and breadth of the State, including those within the boundaries of Lagos and Ogun States.

“With the favourable weather conditions prevailing now, this year’s Local Government roads totaling 181 will be commenced as contractors will be mobilized immediately. We have made provisions for continuous gridlock resolution, junction improvement, construction of more laybys and advancement of signalization that will improve traffic congestion especially along the Lekki-Epe corridor,” he said.

Other key projects to be executed, he said included the Agege Pen Cinema flyover, alternative routes through Oke-Ira in Eti-Osato Epe-Lekki expressway, the 8km regional road to serve as alternative route to connect Victoria Garden City (VGC) with Freedom Road in Lekki Phase I; completion of the on-going reconstruction of Oshodi International Airport Road into a 10-lane road and the BRT Lane from Oshodi to Abule-Egba.

“We will consolidate on the Lagos bus reform project with the introduction of high and medium capacity buses, construction and completion of bus depots at Oshodi, Anthony, Yaba and many more. In the area of job creation, we will construct an ICT Focus Incubator Centre in Yaba while the development of Imota and Igbonla Light Industrial Park as well as the provision of additional small scale industrial estate at Shala will commence. The State Employment Trust Fund will disburse more funds to Lagosians to support business and stimulate the economy.

“From feedback of Lagosians, more emphasis will be placed on the successes already recorded by the Employment Trust Fund to get more of our unemployed youths into gainful employment. The process leading to the movement of Mile 12 market to Imota which commenced in 2016 has reached an advanced stage and we will complete the infrastructure in the new location in good time to pave way for relocation next year.

“We will vigorously pursue our planned direct intervention in the power value chain towards generating 3,000MW Embedded Power Programme; a 3-year plan to achieving 24/7 power supply for the State. The challenge of inadequate power supply must be resolved for our economy to perform optimally and we believe the provision of this essential utility can no longer be left in the hands of the Federal Government alone to solve. We must complement each other for the overall development of our nation,” he stated.

Ambode added that his administration would continue to rekindle its efforts in the area of tourism, sports, arts and culture by ensuring that government’s objective of making the State the tourism, sporting and entertainment hub of the nation was conscientiously pursued.

He said government was poised on completing all on-going housing projects, especially those at Gbagada, Igbogbo, Iponri, Igando, Omole Phase I, Sangotedo and Ajara-Badagry for delivery to subscribers under the Rent-to-Own policy.

Ambode also disclosed that the Cleaner Lagos Initiative Programme, would kick-off in January, 2018, while appealing to all citizens to embrace the Public Utility Levy, adding that the success of the proposed 2018 budget would rest on “our commitment to succeed, drive to be self -sustaining and accelerate growth in both infrastructural and economic reforms, through revenue enhancement, especially on fiscalization of consumption taxes, re-enactment of Land Use Law and implementation of physical planning regulations among others.

Our Lagos