"It’s Self Defeating”: Former Gov'ship Candidate Speaks as Lagos Assembly Okays N2.267tn 2024 Budget

• The Lagos house of assembly passed a total of N2,267,976,120,869 as the 2024 budget size of the state at a recent plenary session
• The budget representing 58 percent capital expenditure and 42 percent recurrent expenses was approved following a unanimous voice vote by all the lawmakers present at the sitting
• Speaking against the backdrop of the budget passage, a gubernatorial hopeful, Tope Balogun, told Legit.ng that budget performance should "not only be fantastic when tabulated but awesome in direct positive effects on the masses"

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 6-year-experience covering politics and governance in Nigeria

Ikeja, Lagos state - Tope Balogun, the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the 2023 election in Lagos state, has described the Lagos state 2024 budget which was christened "The Budget of Renewal" as “self-defeating”.

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Balogun in an interview with Legit.ng, said the masses would not like a situation where their experiences of 2023 are renewed.

Lagos 2024 budget: Not about size, but impact

The AA chieftain stated that he observed “grandstanding figures” on incomes and expenditures in the budget.

Legit.ng recalls that on Friday, January 5, the Lagos state house of assembly passed the N2.2 trillion 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to it by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The budget was passed at a plenary presided over by the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, according to a statement by the Speaker’s chief press secretary (CPS), Eromosele Ebhomele.

Reacting to the development, Balogun told Legit.ng:

“The Lagos state budget was christened 'The Budget of Renewal' which attracted a meticulous study of what it entails as that tag alone is in itself self-defeating as much as scary because we all know that as commoners, we won't ordinarily like that the situation we were in 2023 be renewed in 2024.

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“We took time to study the budget and summarily saw that there are a whole lot written in the budget to fill the space as usual.

“This position is strengthened by what we dubbed grandstanding figures on income and expenditure when the budget is, unfortunately, a deficit budget such that we had to project borrowing as much as 398.3 billion naira to get to our income threshold while planning to pay back a mere 174.94 billion for recurrent debt servicing so we can add up more debt in the long run.

“By and large, we await implementations of the budget not in terms of percentage implemented on papers through money released but through commensurate projects executed in tandem with the earmarked values as well as benefits to the state.

“As for us, budget performance should not only be fantastic when tabulated but awesome in direct positive effects on the masses for whom the government was constituted.”

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Balogun speaks on Lagos demolitions

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Balogun said the issue of demolition "will always be something to deal with”.

Balogun noted Lagos has plans for its lands – like any other ‘serious city’.

Gbajabiamila commissions 80-bed health facility

In another related news, Legit.ng reported that Femi Gbajabiamila, President Bola Tinubu's Chief of Staff, officially opened an 80-bed healthcare facility in Lagos state.

The Femi Gbajabiamila General Hospital in Surulere, Lagos state, is equipped with essential facilities, including a 300 KVA generator, a 100 KVA solar generator, and a borehole with a water filtration system.

Soldier arrested for criticising Sanwo-Olu

Meanwhile, Taoreed Lagbaja, the Chief of the Army Staff, has said that a soldier who criticised Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state in a viral video has been arrested.

Lagbaja emphasised that the conduct of the soldier caught driving against traffic does not represent the entire Nigerian Army.

Source: Legit.ng