Budget 2012: Lagos Attains 89% Performance ----Fashola

The State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), disclosed this after the first session of the 3-Day Executive Council/Permanent Secretaries Retreat at Lekki, tagged, ‘Enhancing Effective and Efficient Service Delivery in Lagos State.’

Fielding questions from journalists on the retreat, which focused on the review of the implementation of decisions taken by the body in the last retreat, among other topics, Fashola attributed the increase in performance to availability of resources and hard work.

He added that the improvement was the fulfillment of the promise he made during the third budget review to do better in the fourth quarter.

“You recall that at the third quarter briefing, I indicated that we had a quarterly performance of 65 percent, that was down from the second quarter of 84 percent and I promised that we were going to work harder in the fourth quarter. I believe we have done just that,” he said.

“Standing on its own, we have achieved a 143 percent performance in the fourth quarter,” he said, adding, “so, what we have cumulatively, as performance for the 2012, is a budget performance of 89 percent, the highest we have ever done since we started in 2007.”

Advancing reasons for the feat, Governor Fashola said: “It was due partly to the fact that it was when we closed on our bond; we had more money to finance our projects.

“It was also attributable substantially to much more rigorous work in ensuring that the projects were made ready; that they got to implementation promptly within the last quarter with contractors moving to site.”

The governor noted that last year’s budget was the highest budget the state has ever had; stressing, “it is not only highest in performance, it is also highest in quantum.”

“We have been going round in the last two weeks doing spot checks on what have been done. So, the evidence of how the budget performed that we are seeing now on paper is what we have seen in reality.”

He listed the construction of housing projects at various stages of implementation, from Epe to Ejinrin to Agbowa, to Sango-Tedo, Mushin, Ilupeju, Igando and others.

“We have seen the progress we are making on the Light Rail project, road construction from Mile 12 to Ikorodu, the Waterworks at Adiyan now in progress and so many other areas where we clearly saw progress, including the health sector, the School of Nursing in Alimosho and the Maternal and Childcare Centre in Amuwo-Odofin.

“So the direct impact of the budget is clearly visible and demonstrable,” he said.

Fashola expressed the readiness of his team to perform even better in the 2013 Budget year, and appealed for voluntary payment of tax by all taxable citizens of the state.

“It is no longer the capacity to perform. We have demonstrated that the more money we have, the more performance of the budget and the more impact it will make on the lives of our people,” he said.

“So, this is just an appeal now for people to voluntarily pay their taxes. That is the tool of government. If you give us the tool, we will deliver.”

On energy conservation in the state, as a way of cutting cost of governance, a topic which, according to him, formed part of the discussion at the first session of the Retreat, Governor Fashola said the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, through the State’s Electricity Board, was spearheading a campaign for Power and Energy conservation in the state.

“No matter the progress we make as a people and as a nation in terms of utility of water and electricity, if we don’t conserve what we have, it will never be enough,” he said.

“It has become more incumbent on us now that we don’t have enough, that we must conserve. So, we reviewed the initiatives set by the Electricity Board starting from our kids in school and also to adults

The governor said it was also decided that every Ministry, Department and Agency of government must improve its energy conservation and power conservation and awareness, adding that government has retrofitted the whole of Alausa with energy-saving bulbs, which “is already saving us about N2.5 million a month.”

“This, ultimately, relieves the taxpayer of waste and gives him more value for the money that we get. We are going to see that going through this year,” he said, adding, that it was not going to be restricted to the government but would be extended to the people.

As he explained: “We are going to start with ourselves so that when we go to preach it, we are already doing it. In that way, we reduce the overhead cost of running government, becoming more efficient and using power for service delivery and so on and so forth.”

Also fielding questions from newsmen on the 2012 Budget performance, the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Ben Akabueze, attributed the fourth quarter performance to hard work, pointing out that when a budget is made and the team works hard to implement it, the result is good performance.

He described the performance as noteworthy, and it would go a long way to encourage the team to do even better in the 2013 Budget year.

He said the policy thrust for the 2013 Budget was still the same — Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Economic Growth anchored on infrastructural renewal and development.

“There will still be a lot of emphasis on the Capital side of our budget this year, looking at the 54-46 ratio between Capital Expenditure and Recurrent Expenditure and the thrust of our Capital Expenditure this year will be on completing on-going projects,” he said.

“That does not mean we will not focus on any new projects but will complete or at least advance on the projects we already have on hand and they are quite a lot that we have on our plate already.”

On how to realise the implementation of the 2013 Budget, Akabueze said: “As we keep saying for us in the Lagos State Government, we have demonstrated that we have the execution capacity.

“The singular restraining factor in terms of our being able to deliver more goods and services to the people is revenue. So, the biggest contribution the people can make is to pay their taxes.”

The 3-day Retreat, which ended yesterday, also had in attendance, the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, all the members of the State Executive Council, including the Chief of Staff, Mr. Lanre Babalola, Head of Service, Prince Adesegun Ogunlewe, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba and the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Raji and Body of Permanent Secretaries and selected Chief Executives of Parastatals