Lagos sets January deadline to pass budget

The Lagos State House of Assembly is to pass the state’s 2018 Budget Bill before the end of January.

The Acting Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy and Publicity, Mr Tunde Braimoh, gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday.

“We are working round the clock; we have denied ourselves holidays, even weekends, to see that we bring to bear our impact on the budget for quick passage.

“We are, however, embarking on careful scrutiny, consideration, repositioning and re-aligning of the budget where necessary.

“We want to see that we consider every kobo in the budget for the benefit of Lagos residents.

“We are going to be assiduous, meticulous and circumspect to ensure that the budget is adapted for the betterment of Lagosians”, he sais.

The lawmaker also said that the assembly would break new grounds in 2018 to bring more dividends of democracy to Lagos residents.

He said that the House would show greater understanding with the execute arm to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

NAN reports that the House had on Dec.18 set up a seven-man committee to scrutinize the state’s N1.046 trillion budget proposal.

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode presented the proposed `Budget of Progress and Development’ to the Assembly on Dec. 11.

The budget size, which represents a 28.67 per cent increase over the state’s 2017 Budget of N812 billion, had a capital expenditure of N699 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N347billion.

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