…Capital Expenditure Gulps N93bn

 The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said its internally generated revenue for the first quarter of Y2018 stood at N103.476billion, as against N96.7billion recorded in the previous year, thereby accounting for 81 per cent of the total revenue of N141billion generated in the quarter.

Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Segun Banjo who disclosed this during the annual Ministerial Press Briefing to mark the third year in office of Governor Ambode’s administration held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, said the records so far shows that the performance of the State’s Y2018 budget of N1.046trillion was heading in the right direction.

Giving a breakdown of the figures, the Commissioner said the budget performance for the first quarter has a pro-rata size of N261.530billion and in absolute term, it had performed N163.491bn, compared with N120.206billion reported for the same period in Y2017.

In terms of revenue generation, Banjo said that the sum of N141billion (63 per cent) was generated as Total Revenue against N124.141billion (77 per cent) achieved in 2017, adding that this year’s first quarter performance was N17.816billion higher than the previous year’s performance in absolute terms.

He said out of the total revenue of N141billion the State internally generated N103.476billion representing 57 per cent, as against N96.7billion in the previous year, thereby accounting for 73 percent of the total revenue for the current fiscal year.

The Commissioner explained further that the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) generated N84.1bilion in the first quarter, which accounted for 81 per cent of the total revenue generated, a feat, he attributed to proper planning and research by the government.

“What we have said now is that in the first quarter which we just concluded of 2018, LIRS generated a total of N84 billion compared to the N74billion that was generated in 2017. Due to the research and the planning done, LIRS has been able to improve their performance and we are very glad about it,” he said.

Banjo however noted that the N84billion generated by LIRS was excluding revenue from Land Use Charge (LUC), noting that it was from the strict application of taxes from Pay As You Earn (PAYE), withholding taxes, direct assessment and other taxes.

Besides, he said that Federal transfers for the first quarter Y2018 contributed N38.481billion (87 per cent) compared to a performance of N27.364billion out of which Statutory Allocation contributed N13.868billion and N24.4billion from VAT for the same period in 2017.

“Under Capital Expenditure, Quarter 1 performance stood at N93billion (53 per cent) as against N46.7billion (37 per cent) as at the same period in Y2017. As at the end of Q1 2018, the Capital:Recurrent ratio closed at 57:43 as against 39:61 recorded same time in Y2017.

“This is a pointer to the fact that all efforts geared towards tighter control of overhead is beginning to yield fruits even though more needs to be done in this area,” he said.

He said the State Government would do everything within its powers to sustain the budget performance in the second quarter, adding that the ultimate goal was to meet the target of a Capital: Recurrent expenditure ratio of 67:33 throughout the year.

Responding to questions on the reduction in the rates payable by property owners under the Lagos State Land Use Charge Law, vis a vis the 2018 budget and its effects on the plans by the government to deliver all ongoing projects in the State, the Commissioner allayed fears, adding that the present administration had already fashioned out strategies to ensure prompt delivery of critical projects this year.
“Definitely we have made a projection but because this is a very responsive government, we have decided to give rebates and when you give rebates, automatically the revenue will go down, the expectation might not be there in terms of what we intended in the first instance. But we can assure you that whatever we lose from the rebate we would get it somewhere else because we would continue to up our game,” Banjo said.