The Chief Whip of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rotimi Abiru, said the 2020 budget of the state government will be passed before the end of the year.
The N1. 17trn budget tagged “The Budget of Awakening to a Greater Lagos” was presented to the State House of Assembly on November 8, by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Responding to questions from reporters at the venue of the annual national delegates’ conference of the Association of Hansard/Verbatim Reporters of Nigeria at Ikeja, on Saturday, Abiru, who represented the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, disclosed that the proposed budget had already passed second reading.
He said: “The second reading has just been taken on the floor of the House and it is a process, all I can say is that it is our desire to see that the budget is passed before the end of the year, all things being equal.
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“Of course, we look forward to a hitch-free budget process and we require and seek for the support of the executive to avail us all necessary documents that would help in the passage of the budget, once that is done I am sure it is our desire to pass it before the end of the year.”
Earlier, while declaring the conference open, the Chief Whip noted that Hansard was a very important document in the parliament that contains everything said during proceedings in parliament.
In his welcome address, the Clerk of the House, Mr. Azeez Sani, represented by the Head, Legislative Directorate, Mr. Taiwo Ottun, commended the Hansard/Verbatim reporters for their roles which he said “have been remarkably instrumental to the growth and development of our democracy and legislative institutions.”
The theme of the conference was “The challenges facing the production of Hansard and the way out.”