As anxiety gathers over delay in the presentation of the 2019 budget to the Lagos State House of Assembly, the Akinwunmi Ambode government has yet to give reasons for the delay.
Stakeholders are worried that less than 16 days to the end of 2018, the budget has not been presented.
Apart from the fact that the governor has not given reasons for the delay, neither the budget ministry nor its information counterpart has spoken on the matter.
Observers recall that Ambode presented the 2018 budget on December 11, 2017, which was about 20 days to the end of the year.
A report said, “The 2018 budget, the biggest the state had ever presented, was the second largest state budget in Nigeria. Also, the 2017 budget was presented on November 29, 2016, about 32 days to the end of the year.
“It took just about 35 days for the Lagos State Assembly to put its authority behind the N812b 2017 budget, which to some analysts must have been done in a rush, with no due diligence and about 51 days to put its authority on the N1.046t 2018 budget.
“With the budget expected to be at least at par with the 2018 budget or bigger, it is expected that the Assembly should take not less than 51 days to consider the budget including public holidays, which means that the budget could be made ready in February, 2019. This is more so almost all the lawmakers would be campaigning to return to the Assembly which might limit the time to look into the budget.”
But there is hope that the budget will soon be presented based on how Ambode and the party establishment now work closely on the candidacy of Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The thinking is that the gap created by the controversial primaries created suspicion between the Ambode administration and the legislature and he too did not want to risk presenting the budget when he was not sure they were on the same page.
