Lagos spends N1tn on infrastructural development

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The Lagos State Government said that N1.1tn was spent on infrastructural development in the last eight years.

It added that the figure was part of the total expenditure of the state, which the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Ben Akabueze, put at N2.7tn.

The commissioner spoke on Thursday at the annual ministerial press briefing in Ikeja, Lagos.

He explained that the N1.1tn was spent on 8,961 projects certified by the ministry.

He said, “The aggregate expenditure in the last eight years is N2, 749, 498, 000, 000. The ministry in the last eight years certified 8,961 projects valued at N1, 132, 269, 772, 048.”

Akabueze added that the average budget performance of the state in the last eight years was 79 per cent.

He said the total revenue that accrued to the state during the period was N2.4tn.

He said, “The average sectoral allocation of the budget from 2008 to 2015 is: General Public Service, 23.70 per cent; Public Order and Safety, 3.12 per cent; Economic Affairs, 31.58 percent; Environmental Protection, 8.56 per cent; Housing and Community Amenities, 9.17 per cent; Health, 7.66 per cent; Recreation, Culture and Religion, 1.52 per cent; Education, 14.09; and Social Protection, 0.60 per cent.

Speaking on the gains recorded under the Millennium Development Goals programme, the commissioner said the government enjoyed donor support to the tune of N15, 134, 459,766 in the last eight years, while counterpart funding for the same period stood at N27, 245, 687.

Akabueze added that the 2014 budget of N489.7bn was slightly re-ordered in August with the capital expenditure reviewed downwards from N255bn to N247bn, while concurrent expenditure increased to N241bn from N234bn without any change in budget size.

He explained that the budget was reordered to accommodate exigencies like the Ebola outbreak, heightened security challenges and reversal of Lagos State University fees increase.

Akabueze pointed out that a lot of resources still remained untapped in the state, saying he expected the incoming government to widen the revenue base and bring more taxable Lagosians into its tax net.

President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) and All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, have been described as the architects of modern democracy in Nigeria.
Delta APC candidate in the just concluded governorship election, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, said the two men worked hard to rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which he alleged had crumbled the socio-economic structure of the country in the last 16 years.
Emerhor, in a statement by his Director of Media and Political Communication, Dr. Fred Oghenesivbe, said: “Now, there will be a great light at the end of the tunnel for Nigerians who have been fasting and praying for “change” occasioned by the reckless corruption in high places in government.”
He said that the misrule of the PDP provoked Tinubu, Buhari and other progressives to deploy time, treasure and talents to rescue Nigeria from the un-progressive cabal.
Emerhor said  “Asiwaju Tinubu and Gen Buhari have finally etched their names in global political hall of fame through their commitment to the entrenchment of structures that produced our democratic experience as a nation.”
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