Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has signed the N1.163 trillion 2021 appropriation bill ratified last Monday by the House of Assembly.
Mr Sanwo-Olu signed the financial document into law on Thursday at a simple ceremony held at the State House in Marina, ushering Lagos residents into the New Year with reassuring hopes and heightened expectations.
The governor assented to the bill, christened ‘Budget of Rekindled Hope’ at the event attended by cabinet members, state lawmakers and chairman of the House Committee on Finance Rotimi Olowo who also represented the Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.
After signing the bill, Sanwo-Olu remarked that the speedy consideration and passage of the budget reflected the dedication to the progress and prosperity of the state by both the executive and legislature.
Describing the past year as a peculiar era in the annals of the state, he said the economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and destruction that followed the #EndSARS protests drew Lagos’ development back in no small measures.
With the signing of the budget, Sanwo-Olu said the state walked into 2021 with strong will and high determination to rebuild lost assets of the state, advance its economic growth, and expand opportunities for residents to flourish despite the economic challenges caused by the disastrous events.
He said: “With the passage of the 2021 Appropriation Bill, and the signing of the document into law today, our will to rebuild Lagos, advance the State’s economic growth, and expand opportunities for Lagosians to flourish despite the economic challenges caused by the coronavirus, has now been reinforced.
“As we already know, 2020 will go down in history as a peculiar year largely defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ENDSARS protests, which were recklessly hijacked by those who destroyed some of our public assets and private businesses. We are fortunate to be going into the New Year with an already passed budget, which will help to expedite our recovery process.”
Significant parts of the state’s 2021 spending, Sanwo-Olu said, are committed to human capital development, youth engagement, social intervention initiatives, while chunk of the spendings is reserved for the completion of ongoing projects critical to achieving the objectives of his administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda.
Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget Sam Egube hailed the process of ratification of the appropriation bill, describing the procedure as “strenuous but thorough”.
About N703 billion, representing 60 per cent of 2021 budget, is earmarked for capital expenditure, while N460.5 billion will go for recurrent expenditure.
