Why executive is yet to get Lagos 2019 Budget, by source

Fresh facts were cited yesterday on why the Lagos State House of Assembly has not transmitted the N894 billion 2019 Budget to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, The Nation reports.

The 40-member legislature passed the Appropriation Bill on April 29, but decided not to forward it to the executive for the governor’s assent.

A source within the House of Assembly told The Nation last night that the lawmakers plan to forward the approved bill with other bills for the governor to sign before the middle of the week.

The budget was passed on April 29 and the usual thing after the passage on the floor is for the Clerk of the House to transmit a clean copy of the Bill to the governor for his assent.

But by Friday last week, two weeks after the budget was passed, the governor is yet to sign the Appropriation Law, which will authorise the release of funds and the begin of its implementation.

The non-signing of the law has raised speculations in many quarters and among Lagosians as to what is stopping the governor from signing the budget, which many believe has suffered unnecessary delays and subjected to unnecessary controversies.

However, in an attempt to find out what was really delaying the signing of the budget, The Nation gathered that the budget might still be with the Assembly as there was no sign that it has been transmitted to the executive.

When the Clerk of the House, Mr. Azeez Sanni, was contacted, he said as a civil servant, he could not speak with the media.

He directed the reporter to the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Speaker or the Chairman of the House Information Committee.

Though the information committee chairman was not available, the CPS to the Speaker, Musbau Razaq, promised to get across to The Nation later.

But, several calls to him later for response was not answered.

The Nation also approached the House Majority Leader, Sanai Agunbiade, who said it was an administrative affair and that it was only the Clerk who could throw light on whether the budget has been transmitted to the governor or not.

When told that the Clerk said as a civil servant he could not talk with a reporter, Agunbiade said he knew that the House has passed the budget and other thing left is administrative, which only the Clerk can speak on it.

On the executive side, top government officials, including some exco members, only agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

They were emphatic on the fact that the Assembly had not transmitted the budget to the governor and that the Assembly was still holding on to the budget.