The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed a budget of N489.69 billion for the State Government for 2015.
The House began the deliberation on the appropriation bill on Nov. 24, 2014 after the presentation of the budget proposal by Gov. Babatunde Fashola at the plenary.
The budget is made up of recurrent expenditure of N241. 977 billion and capital expenditure of N247. 713 billion.
Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Speaker of the house, who spoke after the passage of the budget, said that it was the 10th and the last he would be working on as speaker.
He said that the committees of the house had worked assiduously on the budget.
“We would have passed the budget in 2014, but for some ministries which did not come up with their documents in time.
“I want to commend the House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget and other committees for a job well done,” he said.
Ikuforiji advised the state government to implement the budget fully and ensure that the people of the state feel the impact.
“This House therefore directs the Executive arm to diligently and conscientiously implement the provisions of this 2015 budget as passed by this Assembly.
“We remain a veritable partner of the Executive in managing the affairs of the state.
“We will always work together to take Lagos to the Promised Land.
“No section or area of Lagos State should suffer social amenities and infrastructural development if this budget is religiously executed.
“We have always tried to satisfy the yearning of Lagos residents in the provision of adequate security and life-changing amenities; we will continue to do this, especially as we enter into an election year,” he said.
Fashola had said of the budget: “We have retained the same budget size of 2014 to keep zero deficits.This will give the administration the room to start up very quickly”.
In the budget, Works and Infrastructure got the highest vote of N72.250 billion followed by Education with N52.09 billion.Health came third with N32.4 billion while Environmental protection got N22.76 billion and Housing, N28.67 billion.
Also, the Assembly got N8.7 billion, Information and Strategy, N2.4 billion, and Agriculture got N2.17 billion.
The House also approved N21.4 billion for Commerce and Industry; Science and Technology had N3.94 billion. Transport sector, N27.8 billion and Judiciary, N3.44 billion.