Fashola signs N450bn 2011 appropriation bill

Governor Baba-tunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, appended his signature to the 2011 Appropriation Law for the implementation of N450.77 billion 2011 budget.

From right: Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan, Deputy Governor; Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State; Mr Abdul Hakeem Abdul Lateef, Special Adviser, Political and Legislative Powers Bureau and Mr. Ben Akabueze, Commissioner of Budget and Planning during the signing of 2011 Appropriation Bill into law at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday. Photo by Bunmi Azeez.

There was a modification in the budget size, as it was raised by N2.57 billion by the state House of Assembly from N445.18 initially presented to the House by  the Governor on December 14.
The Governor had also subsequently sent additional N3.033 billion to the House for approval to address the issue of accreditation of courses run by Lagos State University, LASU, by the National University Commission, NUC, thus bringing it to a total of N450.77b.
Speaking before signing the budget at Government House, Alausa, Ikeja, Fashola said its implementation would hopefully bring meaning and impact positively on the lives of Lagos residents, stressing that it was in the interest of the state.
According to the Governor, the budget will address food security, better welfare package for the public service, dwindling fortunes of education in the state, with particular regard to the de-accreditation of some courses run by LASU, infrastructure as well as human capacity development.
He, therefore, called on the members of the state executive council and co-implementers of the budget in the civil service to buckle up as the budget set to roll. “All hands must be on deck to actualize the budget,” Fashola said.
It will be recalled that the Lagos State House of Assembly had approved  N450.778 billion for 2011 budget last Tuesday as against the N445.180 billion proposed by the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola December 14, 2010.

The Recurrent Expenditure of the budget stood at N198.182 billion, while the Capital Expenditure moved up to N252.593 billion.
In the course of consideration by the House of Assembly, an additional request for the sum of N3.022 billion was forwarded by the Governor to cater for the accreditation requirements of LASU programmes by the NUC.
The request increased the budget size from N445.180bn to N448.202bn with the Capital Expenditure increased from 248.471 bn to N251.493 bn while Recurrent Expenditure remained at N196.709 bn