After more than a month of what looked like a hide-and-seek game and buck-passing between the executive and the legislative arms of the Lagos State, the state 2019 appropriation bill of N852.317 billion will finally be laid before the 40-member Lagos State House of Assembly next week, becoming the most delayed in over a decade.
Olusegun Banjo, state commissioner for economic planning and budget, confirmed to BusinessDay on Wednesday, that the budget would formally be laid before the House next week, but did not give any specific date, saying, “It won’t go beyond next week.”
BusinessDay had earlier reported that the state 2019 budget had been caught in a web of politics. A source had informed the newspaper that there had been some attempts by one of the arms of the government at arm-twisting the other, resulting in the delay in tidying up and presenting the bill.
The relationship between the two arms had suffered some setback in the aftermath of the October 10, 2018, All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries, which incumbent Akinwunmi Ambode lost to Babajide-Sanwo-Olu.
A few of the state lawmakers, including Mudaishiru Obasa, the speaker, Adefumilayo Tejuosho, chairman, House Committee on Information, reached through their cell phones to comment on the budget did not respond.
Obasa did not to take his calls while a text message to his GSM phone was not replied.
Tejuosho, who picked her call, said she could not hear the question posed to her and eventually dropped the call. A text message sent to her phone thereafter was not responded to. Many more attempts to reconnect her proved abortive, as her line could no longer be reached.
The executive and legislative arms of the state government engaged themselves on the 2019 budget penultimate week. While the executive said the proposal had been with the House since December 18, 2018, the lawmakers, who recently resumed from their Christmas/New Year recess, said the executive sent the appropriation bill to them while away on recess, and demanded that the governor, Ambode, should appear before the House to lay the budget as required by law.
No official could confirm whether Governor Ambode will personally be in the House of Assembly to present the budget to the lawmakers next week or would do so through proxy.
However, a source told BusinessDay that the lawmakers would receive either the governor or his proxy, saying, “What the lawmakers expect is that the executive comes forward to lay the budget before the House as required by law. It could be the governor or his representative.”
Banjo, the state commissioner for economic planning and budget, in a statement two weeks ago, said draft bill had been with the lawmakers since December 2018 and that the legislature was yet to create the opportunity for the governor to present the budget size of N852.317 billion.
According to Banjo, the governor had notified the House of intention to present the budget on Monday, December 24, 2018, after the State Executive Council (SEC) approval on December 19, 2018, but the ceremony was postponed as the House was on recess and thereby could not form a quorum.
He said in order to meet the traditional presentation, a formal letter then sent to the House on Friday, December 28, 2018, forwarding the contents of the budget to the House.
“It is expected that when the House reconvenes, the speaker would inform members of the content of the budget proposal sent by the governor and take necessary action,” he said.
Governance in Nigeria’s commercial state has ebbed significantly, as the vibrancy associated with Lagos and which has been the attraction for other states of the federation seems to have been lost.
With the 2019 budget still not presented by mid January 2019, the state has broken its long held tradition of unveiling its annual budgetary estimate within the fiscal year.
Ambode’s predecessor in office, Babatunde Fashola presented the 2015 budget of N489.69 on November 25, 2014. Ambode presented his first full circle budget of N666 billion for 2016 on December 17, 2015.
The budget presentation improved significantly the following year, as the 2017 budget of N813 billion was tabled before the House of Assembly on November 29, 2016 while the 2018 budget of N1.04 trillion was presented on December 11, 2017.
