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Lagos State government said it has targeted a total of N73.836bn monthly as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2020 as part of the funding for the year’s budget which stands at N1.168trn.
The total revenue the state expects to generate for the year to fund the budget tagged: ‘Budget of Awakening’ is N886.041bn, with other revenue projections, including capital receipts put at N232.29bn and Federal transfers of N184.988bn.
Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube, disclosed this at a press briefing held on Tuesday at Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja while giving a detailed analysis of the Year 2020 Budget for the state.
Egube said the total revenue estimate which amounts to N1.071trn and the deficit of N97.53bn the government would be financed by a combination of external and internal loans within the state’s fiscal sustainability benchmarks, assuring that the state was still below the benchmark for borrowing.
The commissioner said the state government expected to achieve the IGR target through expanding the tax net through the deployment of technology and other initiatives, noting that these include massive investments in technology and other facilities to improve the efficiency in operations of all revenue-generating agencies.
According to him, about N500bn would be raised by Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), assuring that there were huge revenue-generating opportunities in the informal sector, including real estate and transportation in the state.
“We believe that there are huge revenue-generating opportunities in the informal sector, including real estates, transportation for which Lagos State is known for,” he said.
Egube, while giving analysis breakdown of the budget, said a total of N711.031bn was earmarked for Capital Expenditure and N457.529bn for Recurrent Expenditure, making it 61:39 per cent ratio in favour of Capital Expenditure.
He said Education sector has the highest allocation of N136.100bn for 2020, making it N70.40billion higher than Y2019 provision of N65.693bn, followed by Roads and other infrastructure with a budgetary provision of N117.248bn and Health with N111.775bn.
According to him, Science and Technolgy would gulp N10.629bn, Environment N66.586bn, Tourism N7.481bn, Sports Development N7.740bn, Housing and Community Amenities N48.559bn, Agriculture and Food Security N4.840bn.
He disclosed that Commerce and Industry got N3.926bn, Wealth Creation and Employment N8.403bn, Women Affairs N2.920bn, Youth and Social Development N3.716bn and Security and Governance N39.265bn.
Egube, while speaking on the objectives of the budget, said they were to attract private sector investments by creating an enabling environment and also to Improve capacity to collect due revenues as efficiently as possible as well as to Improve civic engagements and participation in governance, among others.
“The objectives are: Attract private sector investments by creating an enabling environment; Aggressively develop, upgrade and maintain Infrastructure; Invest in human capital development, i.e. education and healthcare; Facilitate sustainable social investment and enterprise.
“And also to: Improve capacity to collect due revenues as efficiently as possible; Improve civic engagements and participation in governance, leveraging technology; Build impactful partnerships with the Federal Government, other States and Local governments, development partners and civil society; Improve the quality of the environment and our public spaces generally,” he said.
The commissioner, while assuring that the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu would leave no stone unturn in ensuring the full implementation of the budget, however, appealed to citizens of the state to fulfil their civic responsibilities, including payment of their taxes as at when due “in order to ensure the optimal performance of this budget.”
“To drive the execution of the 2020 Budget, this administration will deploy a digitally enabled Performance Management System which is in line with our commitment to transparency and accountability in the management of public finances.
“This budget has taken into consideration the present economic realities in the World, Nation and Lagos State in particular,” Egube said.
Speaking further, the commissioner disclosed that the budget was the outcome of widely held consultations across the three senatorial districts in the state.
He said this was in addition to taking memoranda and feedback from stakeholders meeting hosted by members of the State House of Assembly within their respective constituencies.
Credit: Tribuneonline