Lagos 2022 Budget Scales Second Reading As Committees Begin Work [Photos]

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has committed the 2022 Appropriation Bill of the State to a joint committee on Finance and Economic Planning and Budget.

Naija News recalls that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had last Wednesday presented to the Assembly a budget size of ₦1,388,285,459,990.51 for the year 2022.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa

At the reading of the bill for the second time on Tuesday, Lagos lawmakers hailed Sanwo-Olu for allocating 59 percent of the proposed budget to capital expenditure.

Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, said the allocation to capital expenditure proposes that more hands would be engaged within the year as the government develops more infrastructure.

“If this budget is well funded and monitored properly, democratic dividends would be felt more,” he said.

In his contribution, Hon. Temitope Adewale urged that the revenue generation net of the state should be widened with lesser emphasis on borrowing.

Obasa arriving the chambers

On his part, Hon. Fatai Mojeed, urged that while considering the budget, there should be consideration for the microeconomic indices of the State like its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He commended the Governor for allocating 23 percent of the budget to education but raised concerns over what he called an over-bloated personnel cost in the Ministry of Establishment.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, noted that some of the MDAs performed woefully in 2021 adding that there was need for some of the revenue-generating institutions of the government to be rejigged.

He also suggested that the government create more vocational centres for the youth while advising against excessive borrowing.

Speaking on the budget, the Chairman of the Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, suggested that the House approves only what is feasible and that if the state needs more, it could make a recourse to the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the House, at the sitting, passed the bills to amend the Lagos State pension reforms law and that which amends the public office holders (payment of pensions) law.