2022 budget: Nasarwa gov. signs N110.8bn bill into law, as Lagos Assembly passes N1.758trn for fiscal year

Lagos State House of Assembly has passed the 2022 budget estimates of N1.758 trillion, with capital expenditure taking the lion’s share.

This is also as the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule signed the sum of N110.8 billion for the 2022 Appropriation Bill into law.

The approved budget by the state legislature represents about 26.7% increase when compared to an initial N1.388 trillion budget estimate presented by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The budget, which was passed at a sitting presided over by the Speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, follows a presentation of the budget report by Mr Gbolahan Yishawu, Chairman, House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget.

Yishawu, in his presentation of the budget titled, ‘Budget of Consolidation’, explained that there was a slight increase in the grand total from the initial N1.38 trillion to N1.758 trillion.

Yishawu pointed out that the total budget size passed has an addition of left over from the previous allocations in the 2021 budget.

The lawmaker said, “The leftover was rolled into ‘contingency fund’ in the 2022 budget and this has also put the capital and recurrent expenditures ratio at 66:34.

`The recurrent expenditure is N591.28 billion while the capital expenditure is N1.167 trillion which brings the budget total size to N1,758 trillion.’’

He also pointed out that all the loans, the bonds and Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) were already captured in the budget.

Obasa, in his reaction after the passage of the budget, thanked his colleagues for working assiduously to ensure that the appropriation bill was passed.

He directed the Acting Clerk of the House, Mr Olalekan Onafeko to send a clean copy of the budget estimates that was passed to the governor for his assent.

It would be recalled that on November 24, 2021, Governor Sanwo-Olu, presented a budget estimate of N1.388 trillion for the 2022 fiscal year to the state house of assembly for consideration and passage.

The State House of Assembly had in December 2020, approved the sum of N1.163 trillion as the budget estimate for the year 2021.

Meanwhile, Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule has signed the sum of N110.8 billion for the 2022 Appropriation Bill into law.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Government House Lafia, the state capital, Sule appreciated the Assembly members for exceeding all expectations on working on the budget despite being presented late.

 “Let me sincerely thank our Assembly Members for taking the time to work tirelessly on this budget and working on it in just two weeks and passed it on to me for signing”, Sule said

Governor Sule said that the state was able to achieve over 60 percent budget performance in the 2021 fiscal year as a result of how many resources the state generates.

He therefore said the 2022 budget was jacked from an initial N109 billion to N110 billion.

The Governor who said there is need for government officials to redouble effort towards the success of the 2022 budget urged government agencies to wake up to actualizing governments’ vision.

He maintained that measures are also on to ensure an increase in the performance of the budget to meet up with the projects that have been captured therein, thus highlighting the Idadu-Agbashi road and the expansion of Shendam road to the state assembly as some of the projects that would soon be embarked on.

Speaker of the State Assembly, Balarabe Abdullahi explained that members of the assembly did not hesitate in ensuring the budget went through due process before it was passed for the Governor’s assent.

Speaker Abdullahi noted that the state legislature would continue to work in the interest of the people of Nasarawa State.