Lagos State government yesterday said it has spent over N1trillion in its drive to develop requisite infrastructure in the last eight years. It said it budgeted N2, 749.498 trillion within the same period.
State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Ben Akabueze who spoke to reporters in Alausa, Ikeja, explained that the money was spent on 8,961 projects certified by the ministry.
He said: ”The aggregate expenditure in the last eight years is N2, 749.498 trillion.
“The ministry in the last eight years certified, 8, 961 projects/programmes valued at One trillion , one hundred one hundred at thirty two billion , two and sixty nine million, seven hundred and seventy two thousand, one hundred and forty eight naira , thirty three kobo (N1,132, 269, 772, 148.33).”
Akabueze said the average budget performance in the last eight years was 79 percent adding that the total revenue that accrued to the state during the period was N2, 433.349 trillion.
He explained that the revenue represents 89 per cent of the total expenditure.
“The average sectoral allocation of the budget from 2008-2015 is general public service, 23.70 per cent , public order and safety 3.12 per cent, economic affairs 31.58 per cent , environmental protection 8.56 per cent, housing and community amenities 9.17 per cent, health 7.66 per cent, recreation, culture and religion 1.52 per cent, education 14.09 social protection 0.60 per cent.”
He added that in the last one year, the ministry issued pre-payment certificates in the sum of N39, 675, 634, 415.44 for 1, 246 projects.
“In order to ensure that the public get value for expended funds, the ministry monitors the execution of projects to ensure that they meet specification,” he said adding that projects valued at N500,000 and above require certification by the Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the ministry
Harping on gains recorded under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme, he said the state government enjoyed donor support to the tune of N15, 134, 459,766 in the last eight years while counterpart funding for the same period stood at N27, 245, 687.
He explained that last year’s budget of N489,690 billion was slightly altered in August with capital expenditure reviewed downwards from N255.025billion to N247,825billion and recurrent expenditure increased to N241.865billion from N234,665billion without any change in budget size.
The commissioner said the budget was adjusted to accommodate exigencies such as the Ebola outbreak, heightened security challenges and reversal of Lagos State University fees increase.
Akabueze pointed out that a lot of resources still remained untapped in the state, saying he expects the incoming government to widen the revenue base and bring more taxable Lagosians into its tax net.