Ariyoh plans more projects in  N2.43bn draft budget

By Edith Igbokwe

More road improvements and public facilities will be built for  residents of Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area (LGA) this year if the councillors approve the N2.43bn draft budget presented by the LG chairman, Bolaji Muse-Ariyoh, last week.

Capital expenditure, which funds such projects,  increased by 15.7% from N586,107,879.92 in 2020 to N677,912,568.42 this year.

In 2020, the total budget was N2,222,461,955.37 out of which N370million (16.65%) was for personnel cost, N350 million (15.75%), teachers’ salaries and statutory deduction, N200million (9.00%).

Similarly, overhead cost took N716,354,075.45 (32.23%) and capital expenditure, N586,107,879.92 (26.37%).

The draft budget presented to the legislative arm by the chairman featured an increase of 9.5 per cent (N211,255,600.05) in the budget compared to the 2020 estimates.

This time, the total budget for the local government was increased to N2,433,717,555.42 from N2,222,461,955.37 presented last year.

Out of the total budget for the 2021 fiscal year, capital expenditure took 27.9 per cent while recurrent expenditure took 72.1 per cent (N1,755,804,987).

Last year, ECHONEWS reported that the health sector suffered a setback as  it took N25million, losing to both Education and Environmental Service/Waste Management which received N30million and N40million respectively.

However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic which threatened public health, the health sector has received the favour of the Ariyoh administration.

It is expected to  receive a budgetary allocation of N40million if the Legislative Arm approves the appropriation bill.

Its increase seemed to have decreased allocations to Environmental Service/Waste Management which received N15million less than last year.

By increasing the allocation to the health sector, the administration hopes to back the battle against the second wave of COVID-19 with more resources by controlling community spread of coronavirus and providing good primary health care.

It will also fund the  procurement of medical equipment and rehabilitate primary healthcare centres across the local government area.

The N40million allocated to the sector represents 5.9 per cent of the total N677,912,568.42 capital expenditure and 1.64 per cent of the total N2,433,717,555.42 budget for the 2021 fiscal year.

The current budget, according to the stakeholders, would give the government the wherewithal to curb community spread while catering for other ailments that may befall the residents at the primary healthcare centre.

However, it was observed that there is no provision for Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme and HIV/AIDS as in the previous budgets.

In the same vein, the allocation for Works, Housing & Infrastructure sector in 2021 was increased by 69.6 per cent compared to what was allocated in 2020. 

With the additional N161,253,968.37 to the N231,664,727.96 Works, Housing & Infrastructure sector got last year, it is obvious that the sector will be more active this year as there is going to be significant infrastructure development.

In the 2021 budget, Works, Housing and Infrastructure took the biggest part of the total capital expenditure, the sum of N392,918,696.33 (57.96 per cent) was allocated to the sector. 

It is followed by Healthcare which took 5.9 per cent of the total capital expenditure.

Others are Education, N30million (4.43 per cent); Environmental Service and Waste Management, N25million this year.

In the proposed budget, Agricultural, Rural and Social Development sector received N20million while Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) got the least (N10million) of the budget.

For the current fiscal year, the local government said it is targeting N780,973,573.29 (32%) from the federal allocation; N1,398,487,754.06 (57%) from Value Added Tax (VAT); N62,200,000 (3%) from its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); N22,000,000 (1%) from the State Co-ordinated Revenue and the sum of N170,056,228.07 as Loan to service the budget.

For its IGR, the local government is proposing to generate N58,350,000 from Local Licenses, Fees and Fines; N5,000,000 from Rates; N13,500,000 as Earnings from Commercial Undertaking; N6,500,000 from Rent on Local Government’s Properties and N850,000 from Miscellaneous sources.

The revenue sources analysed above are inclusive of the N22,000,000 of the targeted State Co-ordinated Revenue.

A review of the last year 2020 budget tagged “Budget of Joy” revealed that the local government was able to generate only 56 per cent of its IGR.

It generated N71,942,385.39 out of the expected N129,100,000.00 IGR.

It was stated that the performance was low due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which truncated the economy.

With the outbreak of coronavirus in February, 2020, the economies (both public and personal economies) were grounded due to the lockdown order in all states of the federation as a measure to curb the deadly virus.

While presenting the budget to the legislative arm on December 23, 2020, the local government chairman, Hon. Bolaji Muse Ariyoh, said the local government proposed a total sum of N2,433,717,555.42 as both recurrent and capital expenditure for the 2021 budget tagged “Transition Budget”.

The name discloses the end of the four year tenure of the administration in July, indicating that another administration will complete its implementation.

According to him, the proposed financial appropriation bill for the year 2021 is to facilitate more development and to build greater Oshodi-Isolo Local Government in line with the Lagos State Government’s agenda to make “Lagos Greater”.

While waiting for the legislative approval, Ariyoh charged each department to look inward and identify more sources of generating revenue to reduce reliance of federal allocation and VAT.

“We certainly need to generate more revenue if we are to make all these developmental plans possible.”