Inspite of COVID-19 outbreak in Lagos, the State realized a gross income of over N334 billion in first half of Year2020, surpassing the revenue generated by the state during the same period in the previous year.
Meanwhile, the budget performance in the period under review stood at 57 percent as against the 73 percent recorded in the first half in 2019, a downward progression said to have been caused by sudden outbreak of the pandemic in Lagos.
The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egube, who disclosed this while addressing stakeholders’ at the Y2021 budget consultative forum held in Ikeja, stated that the budget achieved better performance even after its size was review.
It would be recalled that the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, after the pandemic spread to Lagos, approached the State Assembly and requested for a review of the budget from ₦1,168.6 billion earlier approved to ₦920.5 billion, while the debt sustainability ratio was maintained at 14.4 percent.
While noting that the pandemic affected government plans in 2020, the commissioner stated that the government has commenced plans ahead of next year, saying, this is why we have called you here to explain the current revenue stance and hear from you what your challenges are.
He said: “The COVID-19 Pandemic with its resultant health and economic impacts has greatly affected the state, like other geographies around the world, and changed the context within which, we execute the development agenda”.
The commissioner disclosed that to ensure the economy bounce back even after flattening COVID-19 curve, the government has adopted three strategies, maintain a strong pandemic response, restart the Lagos state economy and reimagined the way Lagos state operates.
Doing these three, Egube said: “We have re-invested significantly in the initial response to the pandemic, supporting the health response, vulnerable population, and businesses”.
While assuring residents of Lagos that the three strategies would yield desired success, he hinted that the government has projected to realize N51 billion monthly from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) totaling N622 billion for the year.
The commissioner added that the government projected that N66 billion would be realized from capital receipt while N158 billion from the federal transfer.
