Lagos Assembly Passes 2023 Budget, Raises Size to N1.768trn

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed the 2023 appropriation bill presented by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu about six weeks ago.

In October, Mr Sanwo-Olu presented to the parliament a budget of N1.693 trillion, but the lawmakers have increased the size of the fiscal spending by N75 billion to N1.768 trillion.

At the plenary on Monday, the Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, said he was impressed with the swiftness with which the committee completed its task for the quick passage of the 2023 budget.

He said the passion with which the lawmakers processed the bill for passage showed their love for the progress of Lagos State, expressing hopes that residents of the state would show their satisfaction with the lawmakers.

A breakdown of the approved budget size shows the sum of N748,096,508,571 was earmarked for recurrent expenditures and N1,019,917,646,713 for capital expenditures for the year ending on December 31, 2023.

A part of the breakdown for the sectoral allocations also shows that N3,228,396,960 was approved as the new overhead cost of the office of civic engagement for drug abuse advocacy, while N802,987,206 was approved as the new capital expenditure of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, with N1,200,000,000 approved as the new overhead cost (Social Intervention and Humanitarian Programme) in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget.