Fashola Signs Supplementary Budget

LAGOS, Oct 18, (THEWILL) - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) today endorsed the 2010 supplementary budget and re-ordering of recurrent and capital expenditures bill after its passage by the state House of Assembly.

Governor Fashola's assent to the bill is generally perceived as an end to a phase of the legislative-executive friction, but may not put a stop to future disagreements due to the alleged marginalisation of the Assembly by the State Executive Council.

At the signing were Deputy Governor Sarah Sosan, Chairman, House Committee on Budget and Appropriation, Hon. Kolapo Sosanya, Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Pastor Ben Akabueze, Special Adviser on Political Power and Legislative Bureau, Mr. Abdul-Hakeem Abdul-Lateef and other members of the State Executive Council. Last week, the Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji-led House of Assembly approved a sum of N22 billion as supplementary budget for the 2010 fiscal year following its rejection of the first supplementary budget of N74.77 billion.

The signing marked the end of long controversies that trailed the supplementary budget, which was rejected twice before it finally considered on the day former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu had a close-door meeting with the lawmakers.

THEWILL learnt that the lawmakers approved the budget on the advice of the former governor.

By the new appropriation law, the recurrent expenditure was reordered from N165 billion to N178 billion while the new capital expenditure is now put at N233.56 billion, thus totaling a sum of N411 billion for the 2010 fiscal year.

In his short address, Abdul-Lateef, Fashola’s Special Adviser said the appropriation law for 2010 “is now put at N411 billion after being restructured and reordered to ensure effective implementation and value addition.”

Speaking before the bill was signed into law, the governor said the re-ordering would enable the government to adequately implement its various projects, thereby making life more prosperous for Lagos residents.

Fashola explained that the process of legislation over the supplementary budget and the reordering “has only strengthened our democracy and has improved our capacity to serve the people more than before. He said the process would spur the government to improve on its budget performance while commending the Assembly for its positive role in ensuring that the supplementary budget was approved.

He said the process “has strengthened our democracy. It has enhanced our capacity in the service of the state. The new law will definitely help further consolidate all the state programmes since this administration came on board in 2007.”

With the approval, the total budget now stands at N411.571 billion as against the initial N389.571 billion. Of the N46 billion Fashola sought from the Assembly, only N36 billion was approved.