The Lagos State government is targeting N73.836 billion monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as part of funding for the 2020 Appropriation of its N1.168 trillion, tagged ‘Budget of Awakening.’

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Samuel Egube, who stated this at a briefing yesterday, said the state is projecting N886 billion from IGR, comprising  N500 billion from the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), N232 billion from Capital Receipts and N184 billion from Federal Government’ transfers.

Egube also said Lagos State would pay N35,000 minimum wage, as against the national limit of N30,000, saying this was a sign that the government will always prioritise the interest of its workforce.

He said the total revenue estimate amounting to  N1.071trillion, and the deficit of N97.53billion  would be financed by a combination of external and internal loans within the state’s fiscal sustainability benchmark, assuring that the state was still below its borrowing benchmark.

He said  the government hopes to achieve the IGR target through the expansion of the tax net and the deployment of technology and other initiatives. “We believe that there are huge revenue generating opportunities in the informal sector, including real estates and transportation for which Lagos State is known for,” he said.

He said the state would  spend over N117.248 billion on road maintenance and the provision of other infrastructure to ease traffic jam in the metropolis, adding that the money would be devoted to addressing  the zero-pothole strategy; create link-roads within the metropolis to resolve traffic congestion and its attendant risks. He said the government has further provisioned over N44 billion in the 2020 budget, as against the N17.59 billion in last year’s Appropriation for the Blue and Red rail lines’ projects, junction improvement, as well as for the completion of trailer parks in the state, amongst others.

The state earmarked N711.031billion for Capital Expenditure and N457.529billion for Recurrent Expenditure, making it 61:39 per cent ratio in favour of Capital Expenditure.

Education sector has the highest allocation of N136.100billion, which is N70.40billion higher than Y2019 provision of N65.693billion.

It is followed by Roads and Other iInfrastrucure with a budgetary provision of N117.248billion and Health with N111.775billion.

Others are: Science and Technolgy N10.629billion, Environment N66.586bilion, Tourism N7.481bn, Sports Development N7.740billion, Housing and Community Amenities N48.559billion, Agriculture and Food Security N4.840billion.

Also, Commerce and Industry got N3.926billion, Wealth Creation and Employment N8.403billion, Women Affairs N2.920billion, Youth and Social Development N3.716billion and Security and Governance N39.265billion.

The commissioner said the objectives of the budget is to: Attract private sector investments by creating an enabling environment; aggressively develop, upgrade and maintain infrastructure; invest in human capital development, (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.

While assuring that the administration will leave no stone unturned in ensuring the full implementation of the budget, he however appealed to the citizens of the state to fulfil their civic responsibility, “such as pay their taxes as and when due in order to ensure the optimal performance of this budget”.

Egube said the budget was the result of wide consultations across the three senatorial districts, in addition to taking memoranda and feedback from stakeholders’ meeting hosted by members of the state House of Assembly within their constituencies.

“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, as well as the optimism for improvement in our revenue collections.

Promising that this year’s budget will most importantly promote massive investments in traffic management and transportation, health and environment, education and technology, making Lagos a 21st Century economy, entertainment, tourism, security and governance.