By Sunday Ani
Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, passed the 2021 appropriation bill of N1.163 trillion into law.
The budget christened, “Budget of Rekindled Hope,” was passed into law after weeks of deliberations, interactions and defence by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) before the House Standing Committees, which was later ratified by the Joint Committee on Economic Planning, Budget and Finance.
Report of the Appropriation was presented during plenary by the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Planning, Budget and Finance, Gbolahan Yishawu, representing Eti Osa constituency 2.
A total of N460,587,43,741 was approved for recurrent expenditure from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, while N702,935,416,976 was approved for the capital expenditure from the Development Revenue Fund. In all, the sum total of N1,163,522,460,717 was approved as the 2021 budget of the state.
In his comment, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, said lawmakers agreed during parliamentary sessions that the Youth Empowerment Scheme of the Ministry of Agric, O’YES, was not yielding the desired results. He added that the same thing is happening with the Coconut Agency, which was recommended for scrapping by the Joint Committee and recommended to be a parastatal under the Ministry of Agric.
He equally said the fund for scholarship awards was reduced as recommended by the Committee since the agency could not access the fund voted for them in the 2020 budget.
The sectoral allocations were eventually read by Obasa to the lawmakers, who approved them through voice votes before the budget was eventually passed into law.
The Speaker then thanked all the lawmakers and members of the press for their coverage of the Assembly activities in the year.
Recall that the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had on Monday, November 9, 2020, presented a budget estimate of N1.155 trillion to the State House of Assembly for approval for the 2021 fiscal year.
Tagged, “Budget of Rekindled Hope,” the budget estimate which is higher than the 2020 budget due to challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, represents N234.5 billion higher than the 2020 budget after it was reduced. But, it is less than the initial 2020 budget of N1.68 trillion by N53.5 billion.
According to the Governor, the 2021 budget has a total revenue of N962.528 billion and a total Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of N795,744 billion.
He said the budget has a Capital Expenditure of 703.272 billion and a Recurrent Expenditure of N451.750 billion, adding that it would focus on youth employment, security, youth engagement and social work, among others.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the 2021 Appropriation Bill also speaks to the restoration of economic balance as we navigate our way out of the negative impact of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the destruction of public assets, following the #ENDSARS protest. “A pivotal crux of the 2021 budget will be the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture among our people,” he added.