By Benjamin Omoike, Lagos

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos on Tuesday presented a proposed N1, 155, 22, 413, 5.82 (one trillion, one hundred and fifty five billion, twenty two million, four hundred and thirteen thousand, five naira, eighty two kobo) year 2021 budget to the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The budget estimate is higher than the 2020 budget after it was reduced to N920.5 billion due to challenges of COVID-19 pandemic.

The budget represents N234 billion higher than the 2020 budget after it was reduced. But it is less than the initial 2020 budget of N1.68 trillion by N53.5 billion.

According to Governor Sanwo-Olu, the 2021 budget has a total revenue of N962.528 billion and a total Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of N795.744 billion naira.

The budget has a Capital Expenditure of N703.272 billion naira and a Recurrent Expenditure of N451.750 billion naira.

Governor Sanwo-Olu said the 2021 budget will focus on youth employment, security, youth engagement and social work, among others.

According to the governor, the budget reflects his government’s determination to rise above the challenges that have affected the development indices in the state, in
the last 10 months.

He noted that the Budget is targeted at advancing the THEMES Agenda of the State Government, stressimg that the state remains committed to communal cohesiveness and Inter-ethnic unity.

“Despite all the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the recent destruction witnessed as the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest, Governor Sanwo-Olu said Lagos remains focused and efforts to rebuild the state is on course, with a promise to deliver on all electoral promises.”

He added that the year 2020 Budget performance stood at 27 per cent at the end of the third quarter, with the hope of increasing the percentage to 88 per cent by the end of the year, with various interventions in Sectors such as Education, Health, Transportation, Technology, Agriculture, among others.

“This ‘Budget of Rekindled Hope’ demonstrates our willingness to overcome all obstacles and deliver all electoral promises to Lagosians. Let me assure you that we have not deviated from the promises we made when this administration was inaugurated on May 29, 2019. This 2021 budget will among other things provide for youth employment: It has become expedient to leverage our 
developmental efforts by focusing on sectors with job creating 
potential like Agriculture, Construction, Technology and Security.”

The governor said resources will be allocated to sectors that need to grow for people to become self-reliant and economically empowered.

“Consequently, for the agricultural sector, our food security plan has a cumulative budget of N22.21 billion, while we are committing a cumulative budgetary provision of N311.43 billion to infrastructure: this will cover direct intervention through the Ministries of Works and 
Infrastructure, Water front, Transportation, the Judiciary, our 
Schools and Seed Capital of N15 billion for The Rebuild Lagos 
Trust Fund.

“This does not include the value to be created from executing the rail 
lines (both Red and Blue) recently approved by the Lagos State 
House of Assembly. To continue to drive our digitisation strategy, 
we have committed a total of N37.37 billion investment in
technology, while in the environment and health services we have committed a total of N48.28 billion and N111.94 billion 
respectively. In line with our urgent need to light up Lagos we will 
begin a set of initiatives in the energy sector to ensure the Lagos 
economy is supported by power one community at a time.

“To this we have committed a total of N32.58 billion in the 2021 budget. The 2021 Appropriation Bill also speaks to the restoration of 
economic balance as we navigate our way out of the negative impact 
of both the pandemic and the destruction of public assets following the ENDSARS protest hijack.

“A pivotal crux of the 2021 budget will be the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture among our people. In light of this, micro, small and medium enterprises will be 
strengthened because their activities help to facilitate socio-economic advancement. We have done a lot to support the 
entrepreneurs in Lagos state through the LSETF and we will do more by providing technical and financial support so that they can in turn generate employment that will stimulate equitable economic 
prosperity,” he said.