Press Releases

Y2009 Budget: Fashola Describes First Quarter Performance As Impressive, Says There’s Room For Improvement

Apr 15, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Wednesday announced that the Y2009 Budget recorded an impressive first quarter performance of 67 percent even as he promised that his administration would strive to do more for the benefit of the people.

Governor Fashola, who fielded questions from newsmen after the first quarter review of the Y2009 Budget by the State Executive Council and other stakeholders at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa, said the performance was a little above that of the first quarter of 2008, adding, however, “but we are not yet satisfied”.

“Undoubtedly, there have been impacts. Though we have not got to where we want, but compared to our position in our first quarter this time last year, we see a marginal improvement”, the Governor said, adding however, that this has been largely due to the dedication, commitment and strength of the workforce, public servants and political officeholders.

Governor Fashola said the present administration is such that aims higher always in order to ensure a sustainable life for all Lagosians. “Our targets are high. We continue to roll up our sleeves to try even harder, to climb even higher in order to make life sustainable for those who put us here, men and women who voted to put us here”, the Governor said.

The Governor, who insisted that there is always room for improvement in any position, declared, “By and by, we are not yet satisfied. We cannot stand on one leg if we can stand on two legs”, adding that the Government would always aim at making things better for the people.

On whether there is no cause for concern, Governor Fashola said, “I would not say there is no cause for concern. It will be reckless to say there is no cause for concern. Even in times of prosperity, there must be cause for concern. There is cause to plan even as there will be cause to reprioritize in austere times”.

The Governor, however, said as a result of the gradual stabilization of the oil prize to a little above 45 dollars per barrel which is the benchmark of the nation’s 2009 budget, there is hope that on a broad national basis, at various states, Locals Government and Federal levels, they would be able to fund their budgets.

Also fielding questions from newsmen on the review, the State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr. Ben Akabueze, said the purpose of the review was to look at what Government has done well and also areas that need improvement.

“The purpose of the Budget Review is to look at what government has done well and how we can reinforce that and decide on areas we have not done well and agree on what we need to do to basically get back on track”, the Commissioner said. According to him, “The whole essence of this is to continue to keep our eyes on the ball. As far as I know, we are the only Government in the whole country, whether at the Federal or State level that is diligently working to make sure that we do not take our eyes off the ball”.

On what to expect from the Government for the rest of the year, Akabueze said, “We expect that we would continually improve on our budget performance. You heard the some of the major concerns like how well our oil prices will do and the extent our economic environment would be dampened by the global economic meltdown are being looked into”, adding that the indication of continual economic improvement has been well demonstrated by the first quarter budget performance which, according to him, is cruising at a relatively better note than was feared initially at the beginning of the year.

The Commissioner said the Government has achieved 83 percent of its Internally Generated Revenue target in the first quarter. Describing the performance as very satisfactory, the Commissioner declared, “We hope that we can even do more than 100 percent in the course of the year”.

Akabueze said Roads and Transportation would remain the key focus areas of the Government adding, “You will see more road constructions, new road contracts, more work going on the roads, in t6he Health sector, more hospitals being built, in the Education sector, you will see lots of new classrooms, new schools being built, refurbishment of existing schools all across the State”.

“Law and order will receive great attention; you will see more courts being built as well as security infrastructure. The Environment will also continue to receive attention. We are, as a State, making very serious preparation for the Rainy Season making sure that the canals and drains are cleared ahead of the Rainy Season with new channelization being done”, the Commissioner said adding that even though there would not be total absence of flooding as a result of the geography of Lagos, what would be seen would be mere flash points rather than destructive flooding due to the great deal of work that has been done in that area.