MANSUR OLADUNJOYE

According to the commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, the budget proposal the amount of which was not disclosed, if approved, would be expended on infrastructural development in order to meet the yearnings of the teeming population of the state.

Bamidele who disclosed this to newsmen after the weekly Executive Council meeting said the ministry of budget and economic planning would work closely with the lawmakers for hitch-free deliberations and eventual passage of the proposal.

"The executive arm would next week send the budget proposal to the lawmakers for ratification after the ministry of budget and economic planning might have concluded tabulating the actual amount needed to run the state’s affairs for the next five months.

"The ministry of budget and planning is still working on it. We will in due course let you know the exact amount that we are sending to the assembly and we want to assure you that the new government in the state would do all its best to satisfy the citizenry. This is just an estimate approved by the Exco, the ministry of budget and planning will work with the state assembly and give a concrete figure", he said.

Bamidele added that as part of the developmental projects, the executive council also approved the rehabilitation of 2,500 classrooms as well as the construction of additional 5,000 classrooms to ease the congestion in Lagos schools at the cost of N27. 25billion.

He said that the Fashola’s regime would embark on a 25-year mortgage scheme for low income earners, saying, "The payment of the housing loans will be spread over 25 years, with the state civil servants accorded priority of being the first set of beneficiaries."