By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has signed the 2025 appropriation bill into law.
The State House of Assembly had on Monday approved a total sum of N3,366,815,224,144 as the state’s budget for 2025.
The approval followed the presentation of a report on the budget by the chairman of the joint committee on appropriation and finance, Hon. Sa’ad Olumoh, and the subsequent voice vote by lawmakers during a sitting presided over by the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa.
The signed budget is divided into N1,295,630,197,452 for recurrent expenditure, while N2,071,185,026,692 is allocated to capital expenditure for the year ending December 31, 2025.
The governor signed the bill at the Lagos House, Ikeja, in the presence of his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; the Secretary to Lagos State Government, Mrs Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin; and other top officials of the state.
He said: “On November 21, 2024, I stood before the Lagos State House of Assembly to present the appropriation bill – a blueprint for continuity, resilience and sustainability. I thank the Lagos State House of Assembly for giving this bill an expedited action.
“We believe in the spirit of unity and collective support that we have always shared as the centre of excellence.
“On behalf of the state, I will like to express appreciation to the Speaker of the assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, and the entire members.’’
The governor said that the budget was the largest so far by any sub-national.
“It is with a deep sense of responsibility that we have signed this bill into law. The N3.36 trillion budget has N1.295 trillion as overhead cost and N2.07 trillion as capital expenditure,” he said.
He said that the most important phase would be implementation in the next 12 months.
“As you have heard, it will be the largest sub-national budget, and we are convinced that we will do justice to it. At the minimum, we implement 90 to 95 per cent.
“A greater Lagos ambition will emerge on the back of high-quality infrastructure that keeps pace with growing population.
“Our focus, therefore, is on ensuring the durability, the functionality and the adaptability of our fiscal assets to meet the ever-growing demands of our people,”Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor said that the budget would focus on five pillars – infrastructure sustainability, economic diversification, social inclusion and human capital development, environmental sustainability, and governance and institutional reforms.
On economic development, he said that Lagos State would rely on many sector to be able to secure a resilient economy.