Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Thursday announced 83 per cent second quarter performance for the State’s 2013 Budget, even as he assured Lagosians of high quality service delivery in the coming months.
The performance represents an increase of 22 per cent above the first quarter performance which stands at 61 percent.
The two quarter results, however, represents a cumulative performance of 72 per cent.
Fielding questions from newsmen after presiding over the Year 2013 Budget Second Quarter/Half-Year Performance Appraisal at the Lagos House, Ikeja, Fashola said the second quarter result was consistent with the promise he made to Lagosians at the first quarter budget review meeting that there would be an improved performance in the second quarter.
“Our review covers from April to June this year and the result shows an isolated performance of 83 per cent for the second quarter which is consistent with the promise I made at the first quarter, when we announced a 61 percent result, that we would improve on our performance and work harder”, the governor said.
He added, “So what you have, 61 per cent for the first quarter and 83 percent for the second quarter, is a cumulative of 72 percent, slightly behind our result of 75 percent at this time last year, 2012”.
Explaining the slight shortfall in cumulative performance this year as against the same period last year, Fashola said: “You will also understand that we are working a larger budget this year against last year’s budget”. The Governor, however, added that, given the right circumstances, Lagosians should expect continued improvement in the quality of both service and service delivery.
“All told, Lagosians should expect that we will do better. If we came out with 61 percent in the first quarter and 83 percent in the second quarter, they can only expect a better result in the third quarter”, the Governor said.
Pointing out that the signs of better performance in the third quarter were already there, the Governor declared, “Many of our road projects, Agege, Iju, Ikeja, Lekki, Isolo, Ago Palace, Mile 12, Ikorodu are making progress. We are completing many school projects and also a lot of drainage projects that are already assisting in mitigating the impact of the heavy rains that we have seen so far”.
The governor, however, explained that the major challenge that the Government faces has to do with fund availability pointing out that there are many projects which have been completed but not yet paid for. He said such projects could not be added to the budget performance because they have not been paid for.
“We have done quite a lot, road projects, drainages and all that. Our main challenge remains funding so we continue to ask Lagosians to voluntarily declare their assets and pay their taxes. There are a lot of projects we have not paid for so we cannot add them as part of the review. But work is going on, our contractors are working, we are heading North”, the governor said.
Assuring of continued delivery of quality service to the people, Fashola declared, “The more people that voluntarily declare their assets and pay their taxes, the more we improve the quality of service delivery. We have over 160 roads awarded last year and about 70 this year and many of them are likely to finish this year. That can only translate to improved travel time and more savings. The more citizens pay their taxes and discharge their own civic responsibility, we will give better service”.
Also fielding questions on the outcome of the budget review, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, reiterated that the only challenge facing improved performance was fund availability adding that Government was ready to discharge its obligation of giving quality service to the people.
“Our main challenge remains funding. As you know, it is the raw material for our performance. Once it is available, what it remains is for us to do our job and fulfill our obligations to the people”, the commissioner said adding, however, that the heavy rains of this year affected project completion.
