Lagos govt achieves 84% budget performance

The Lagos State government said it has recorded a second quarter budget performance of 84 per cent in the 2012 fiscal year, a performance which represents an increase of 19 per cent over the first quarter.Briefing newsmen on the implementation of the 2012 budget, the state Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Ben Akabueze, noted that the performance represented an upward trend, adding that what was lost in the first quarter would be regained before the end of the year.

“Clearly, we are moving forward; the trend is upward and whatever we lost in the first quarter, we are catching up in the second quarter,” the commissioner said, stressing that the government would continue to make the required efforts to sustain the tempo of performance.

While noting that capital expenditure performance was rising at two per cent, Akabueze said government had intensified efforts to ensure the completion of ongoing projects during the remaining part of the year.

“So, overall, it is an improving trend in our budget performance despite the challenging times. We have resolved to continue as earlier said,” the commissioner declared.

He, however, noted that the singular most important limiting factor was revenue.

In his comment, the state governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said whatever emanates from the budget review must be viewed in the context of the global economic trend which, according to him, is taking a turn for the worst.

The governor, who maintained that the aim was still to reach a 90 percent budget performance, attributed the feat “to the hard work that the public officers of this state are delivering on day-to-day basis”.



“It is not where we want to be. We want to be at 90 percent performance. But when you contextualize it in the environment in which we are working, you cannot but salute the efforts of the Public Officers of this State”, the Governor said adding that it was not just budget performance on paper but also in actual life performance.

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