Lagos budget scales second reading, moves to committee stage

By Sunday Ani
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, on Tuesday, referred the state’s 2022 appropriation bill to the joint committee on Finance and Economic Planning and Budget after it scaled second reading.
The state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had on Wednesday, November 24, presented to the Assembly a budget estimate of ₦1.38 billion for the year 2022.
As the lawmakers deliberated on the bill for a second time, they commended the Governor for allocating 59 percent of the proposed budget to capital expenditure; a move they agreed would bring the dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
Majority Leader, Sanai Agunbiade, said the implication of the allocation to capital expenditure is that more jobs would be created next year as the government develops more infrastructures.
Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Rotimi Olowo, lamented that some MDAs performed abysmally in 2021, and stressed that there was need for some of the revenue-generating institutions of the government to be re-jigged.
He also wants the government to create more vocational centres for the youth, even as he advised against excessive borrowing.
On his part, the Chairman, House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, Gbolahan Yishawu, noted that the House could only approve what is feasible and that if the state needs more, it could always approach the Assembly.
In a related development, the House also passed the bills to amend the Lagos State pension reforms law and the public office holders (payment of pensions) law.