Sanwo-Olu Proposes Changes To N4.44tn Lagos Budget, Assembly Sets Conditions

Sanwo-Olu Proposes Changes To N4.44tn Lagos Budget, Assembly Sets Conditions
The governor’s request was presented to the Assembly by the Clerk, Mrs Adenike Oshinowo
Hon. Aro Moshood urged the Assembly to ensure that funds withdrawn from poorly performing MDAs were redirected to projects capable of being completed and delivered to residents

The Lagos State House of Assembly has begun reviewing Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s proposal to reorder the state’s N4.44tn 2026 budget, with lawmakers insisting that any funds released from underperforming projects must be redirected to projects that can be completed and delivered to residents before the end of the year.

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Eko Hot Blog reports that the proposal passed second reading on Tuesday after lawmakers debated the need for the proposed changes and the expected impact on the state’s development programmes.

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Sanwo-Olu is seeking the budget reordering less than eight months after the 2026 budget was signed into law, citing uneven implementation across ministries, departments and agencies, as well as the need to make better use of available resources during the remaining months of the fiscal year.

The governor’s request was presented to the Assembly by the Clerk, Mrs Adenike Oshinowo.

The N4.44tn “Budget of Shared Prosperity”, signed into law in January, recorded 69 per cent overall implementation at the end of the second quarter.

Recurrent expenditure stood at 73 per cent, while capital expenditure recorded 66 per cent.

Sanwo-Olu said the government was seeking to move funds away from allocations tied to projects with slow implementation and redirect them to projects capable of faster execution.

According to him, although the performance figures were below the full-year benchmark, the disparity in implementation among MDAs had become significant enough to require intervention.

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He explained that while some agencies were approaching full utilisation of their allocations due to the pace of their programmes, others were recording lower implementation rates.

The governor said the uneven performance was affecting capital expenditure and slowing the delivery of projects contained in the 2026 budget.

He therefore appealed to the Assembly to approve the proposed reordering, arguing that the government needed to optimise the resources already available rather than wait for additional revenue sources that may not materialise before the end of the year.

However, lawmakers indicated that the exercise should go beyond simply moving figures from one budget line to another.

Hon. Aro Moshood urged the Assembly to ensure that funds withdrawn from poorly performing MDAs were redirected to projects capable of being completed and delivered to residents.

He also called for the interests of constituencies across the state to be considered, stressing the importance of making government projects visible and beneficial to residents.

Similarly, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, representing Eti-Osa Constituency II, cautioned against transferring funds solely because some projects recorded low budget performance.

Yishawu said the Assembly should first examine the reasons behind the poor implementation before deciding whether the affected allocations should be moved elsewhere.

His position brought project viability into the discussion, suggesting that available funds should be directed towards projects with greater potential to deliver measurable benefits to residents.

Hon. Kehinde Joseph also urged the Assembly to consider Lagos’ environmental challenges when deciding where additional resources should be allocated.

He specifically highlighted flooding, drainage and waste management, including the operations of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA.

The various interventions centred on a key question: whether the proposed budget reordering would merely improve the government’s expenditure figures or actually result in more projects being completed and services reaching residents before the end of the fiscal year.

Following the debate, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, referred the governor’s request to the House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget for detailed consideration.

The committee is expected to submit its report when the House resumes on August 31, after which lawmakers will further consider the proposal and determine whether to approve the requested changes.

Meanwhile, the Assembly also commenced the legislative process for the confirmation of nominees to three state institutions.

The nominees are for the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps, the Lagos State Audit Service Commission and the Local Government Service Commission.

Obasa directed the relevant committees to invite and screen the nominees before reporting back to the House for further consideration.