Lagos Assembly To Pass Budget In January

Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has promised that the House will pass the state’s 2012 budget in the first week of January.

The budget, which was presented by Governor Babatunde Fashola in November, is currently at the committee stage.

Ikuforiji, who spoke at a media chat in his Ikeja GRA Lodge, said he had hoped that the budget would be passed by the end of 2011.

He said the target was not achieved as there were some ‘bumps’ in the proposal that needed to be smoothened to enable the governor work effectively throughout next year.

Ikuforiji said:  “There are bumps here and there. On our part, we are making a great sacrifice because most Houses of Assembly are already on recess, but we are postponing ours in order to ensure that the budget is taken care of.

“We want it passed before the end of the year but if there are reasons to move the passage into the New Year, we will ensure that by the end of the first week of the New Year, it is be passed.”

The Speaker called for prayers from every Nigerian to curb the challenges facing the country.

He said this period of the nation’s history calls for sober reflection and rededication in order to meet the goals of a better Nigeria, because currently, no Nigerian can say he is happy with the state of the nation.

The Speaker further explained that part of the solutions to the problems lie with the media and the legislature.

He stressed that these two arms of the society make democracy worth its name.

He said: “After the media, I believe that the next thing we need is a strong and virile legislature. After that you can talk of either the executive or the judiciary.

“I want a nation where I can wake up by 2a.m. and say I want to go to Abuja by road and call on my driver and none of us will nurse any fear.

“I desire a nation where I can wake up in the middle of the night, tell my people that I am going to Maiduguri and pick up my car and drive down to the airport without the fear that someone will attack me on the road.

—Eromosele Ebhomele