Security, economy, infrastructure top considerations in Lagos 2016 budget

As Lagos State government gathers momentum in its preparations for the 2016 budget, security, infrastructure and economy are said to top considerations for priority areas that the budget will be focusing on during implementation.

The budget will also be focusing on healthcare, social welfare, good governance, justice and sport, and, according to officials of the state government, the 2016 budget will also be used to deepen government’s goals of job creation, poverty alleviation and wealth creation.

Kadiri Abayomi, permanent secretary in the state’s Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, disclosed at a Budget Consultative Forum at the weekend that sectoral allocation in the budget would reflect government’s priority areas as contained in the state’s Development Plan 2012 – 2015.

Abayomi said the allocation would also reflect the campaign manifesto and priority of the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, and also the focus on reducing the cost of governance in the state.

The forum, which was attended by critical stakeholders including traditional rulers led by Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, youth bodies, civil society organisations, civil servants and sundry residents, was meant to further entrench the Ambode administration’s belief in participatory governance.

The permanent secretary noted that the N498.690 billion budget in 2015, which achieved 63 percent half year performance, had funded some major ongoing infrastructure projects and new initiatives such as the Light Rail Project, expansion of the Mile 12 to Ikorodu Road, the Adiyan Water Plant Phase 2, etc.

The 2016 budget will be coming with a Fiscal Strategy that aims to entrench sustainable government expenditure through the adoption of more accurate revenue estimates and continued realistic growth in internally generated revenue in taxes and non-taxes revenue.

Abayomi hinted that this would be achieved by deepening tax base and widening tax net, adding that the strategy would ensure sustainable fiscal balance with appropriate level of public sector borrowing and acceptable aggregate public debt, and would put the Oracle System to optimum use to block leakages and wastages.

Stakeholders at the forum seemed to have common expectation from the state government and the 2016 budget, desiring that the government, through the budget, should address the deplorable infrastructure situation in the state.

According to them, the budget should address abandoned roads infrastructure development in the state, especially in the hinterland, adding that the state should also address the issue of skill acquisition for the youth who, it seemed, are not factored into the state’s scheme of things.

Welcoming these suggestions and observations, the permanent secretary reported that all the observations raised at past budget consultative forum and economic summits had helped the state to run a people-based government.

He noted that most of the roads and other infrastructure that had drawn government’s attention were raised at the last consultative forum, disclosing that these infrastructural facilities had been addressed either by rehabilitation or reconstruction.