TheCable

The Lagos state government says it generated a total revenue of N101.69bn in the first quarter of 2016.

Akinyemi Ashade, the state’s commissioner for economic planning and budget, made the disclosure on Monday, saying Lagos made a surplus of N4.85 billion relative to 2015 Q1, as against an expected N29.92 billion deficit.

Ashade said the remarkable feat was achieved despite the diminishing statutory allocation from the federation account, lauding Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of the state, for his “purposeful and visionary leadership”.

Giving a detailed breakdown of the budget performance, the commissioner said N76.06 billion was the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state in the first quarter.

Ashade said the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) revenue for the 2016 Q1 stood at N67.25 billion, compared to N60.58 billion in 2015.

“This performance was N6.67bn more in absolute terms compared to corresponding period in Y2015 and due largely to more participatory structural and systemic re-engineering,” he said.

“Over the course of the first quarter of Y2016, Federal transfers contributed N25.64bn (83 percent of the estimate for the quarter) and accounted for 25.21 percent of total revenue.

“Further breakdown showed that statutory allocations contributed N7.48bn while VAT contributed N18.16bn.”

Speaking on performance of capital expenditure for the period under review, the commissioner said the government had spent N48.88 billion on capital projects, representing a 51 percent better performance of N15.08bn (24 percent) as at the first quarter of 2015.

He also revealed that as at the end of first quarter of 2016, the ratio of capital expenditure to recurrent expenditure closed at 50:50, better than a ratio of 21:79 recorded for the same period in 2015, but short of the ratio of 58:42 projected for 2016.

On the monorail project, Ashade explained that is an urban mass transportation project different from the ongoing blue line rail that will connect Mile 12 to CMS, and the red line rail project.

“A detailed feasibility study has been commissioned on the monorail project to validate the initial survey, which will eventually lead to an investment of US$1billion (about N300billion) in the project if the results of the feasibility study are positive, amongst other conditions,” he said.

Ashade further disclosed that under the Eko Urban Project, the state government, in partnership with the Agence Francaise De Development (AFD) would soon embark on the upgrade of slums in Amukoko in Ajeromi/Ifelodun areas of the state.