The Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday passed into law the N662.588bn 2016 Appropriation Bill presented by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on December 17, 2015.
Tagged The Peoples Budget, the Appropriation Bill is the highest in the history of the state and it was an improvement on the N489.69bn appropriated for year 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The House unanimously approved the budget after members deliberated on the report of House Committee on Budget which scrutinised the Bill as proposed by the governor.
The report was presented by Chairman of the House Committee on Budget, Hon. Rotimi Olowo on behalf of members of the Committee.
Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, in response, commended members of the Committee for expeditiously working on the budget to ensure its passage before the new fiscal year.
Obasa recalled that members of the committee worked even on holidays, adding that they had indeed shown their love for the people of the state.
Ambode had, while presenting the budget, put the recurrent expenditure at N278,909bn while capital expenditure stood at N383,678bn, explaining that the capital to recurrent ratio is 58:42 as against 51:49 in 2014 and 2015.
The governor also put the total revenue estimate for 2016 fiscal year at N542.873Billion saying the balance of N119.714billion would be funded through deficit financing constituting 0.41 percent of the state GDP based on 2016 budget alone and a cumulative debt to GDP ratio of about 3 percent.
In a related development, the House also passed the N25bn Employment Trust Fund bill forwarded by the governor into law.
While considering the report of a joint committee set up by the House, the members scrutinised the findings and recommendations of the committee with minor amendment.
Obasa, in his remarks, praised Ambode for the initiative to engage teeming unemployed youths roaming the street in a veritable venture that would bring out their potential, empower and even foster the economy of the state.
He said the economy of the state would further thrive through improved entrepreneurship, trading commerce and improved economic activities which the Trust Fund aimed to achieve.
Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon Oluyinka Ogundimu, representing Agege II in his submission while presenting the report to members, said the essence of the bill when fully operational would serve as a panacea to tackling the unemployment scourge confronting the nation.
