DR. Ade Dosunmu, a member of the Prominent Indigenes of Lagos State, has accused the State government of padding the 2022 budget with an additional ₦350 billion and condemned the executive and legislature for engaging in financial recklessness on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.
“It is exceedingly shocking that the Assembly passed a totally different budget padded to the tune of ₦1,758,196,448.44 (an addition of almost ₦400b to the proposed figure of N1.38tr),” Dr Dosunmu stated.
Ade Dosunmu explained that this issue opened nagging questions that must be answered by the state government.
“Where, why, and how did the House of Assembly conjure additional N350b over the meticulously prepared and ratified document put together by the state’s bureaucracy? What did the governor omit in his original budget proposal to warrant such mind-boggling increment from the supposed hallowed chambers of the Assembly? Why did the governor not ask any question as President Muhammadu Buhari did to the N37b padding of the national budget by the National Assembly?
“Could this be a connivance or collusion between the executive and the legislative arms of the state to siphon a substantial portion of the Lagos budget? Could the defiant attempt to raise capital expenditure from N823.35b to N1.166.2tr be laying foundation for a white elephant project as 2023 elections draw closer?” he questioned.
Dosunmu, a former Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has said that these questions are not rhetorical and the arms of government must provide the details of this amended budget to Lagosians.
“As Lagosians, I believe we need clarification and the Lagos government needs to be transparent in the way our collective patrimony is being spent.
“The helpless people of Lagos are left to wonder how the state genuinely and sincerely plans to fund this outrageous budget without recourse to another of its scandalous and potentially enslaving borrowings,” Dr. Dosunmu added.
Recall Alimoshotoday reported that Governor Sanwo-Olu presented a proposed budget of ₦1.3 trillion to the House of Assembly for approval, and the legislative arm returned an updated budget of ₦1.7 trillion in December 2022.
