The Lagos State House of Assembly has approved the reordering of the 2024 budget following a request from Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The approval was granted during Thursday’s plenary session after the Chairman of the Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, Hon. Lukman Olumoh, presented the committee’s report and recommendations.
The budget reordering, as explained in a letter from Governor Sanwo-Olu dated August 9, 2024, was aimed at redistributing funds to bolster key Ministries, Agencies, and Parastatals (MDAs) in order to meet the state’s commitments to its residents. Despite the reordering, the overall budget size remains unchanged at N2,267,976,120,869. However, there were adjustments between recurrent and capital expenditures.
Following the changes, the recurrent expenditure was reduced from N952.43 billion to N935.38 billion, while the capital expenditure was increased from N1.32 trillion to N1.33 trillion. This redistribution of funds reflects the state government’s intent to prioritize capital projects that will have a lasting impact on the development of the state.
The House unanimously passed the reordering, and the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, announced the decision: “That a bill for a law to authorise the issuance and appropriation of N935,377,028,422 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for Recurrent Expenditure and N1,332,599,092,448 from the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure, thereby totalling a revised budget size of N2,267,976,120,869 for the year ending 31st December 2024, be passed into law,” he stated.
Speaker Obasa directed the Clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko, to forward a clean copy of the bill to Governor Sanwo-Olu for his assent.
During the session, Hon. Olumoh reiterated the Governor’s rationale for the budget reordering, which was primarily to ensure that the state could continue fulfilling its financial obligations to its citizens. By boosting the budget allocation for certain key sectors, the state government aims to enhance the delivery of essential services and infrastructure development.
The approval of the reordered budget is expected to facilitate the Lagos State Government’s ongoing development projects while maintaining its fiscal discipline for the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year.
