Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola says the state budget has performed up to 83 per cent in the second quarter of 2013.
Fashola, who promised quality service delivery for the rest of the year, said the performance represented an increase of 22 per cent over the first quarter performance which was 61 per cent. He added that the two-quarter results showed a cumulative performance of 72 per cent.
He said, "Our review covers 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. We said we would improve on our performance and work harder.
"So, we have 61 per cent for the first quarter and 83 percent for the second quarter, while the cumulative is 72 percent. This is slightly behind our result of 75 per cent at this time last year."
Explaining the shortfall in cumulative performance of 2013 budget as against that of 2012, Fashola said 2013 budget was bigger than that of last year.
He said, "You will understand that we are handling a larger budget this year against last year's budget. But Lagosians should expect continued improvement.
"Many of our road projects in Agege, Iju, Ikeja, Lekki, Isolo, Ago Palace, Mile 12 and Ikorodu among others 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 rains."
The governor said the administration had a major challenge in the availability of funds, pointing out that there were many projects which had been completed but not yet paid for.
Fashola said, "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."
The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, said he was convinced that the government would do more if funds were available.
"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," he said.
The Punch