THE 2023 Appropriation Bill, which was presented by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to the State House of Assembly (LAHA) has scaled the second reading at the lawmakers hallowed chamber.
NaijaTimes gathered that with the bill scaling the second reading, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, committed it to a joint committee on Budget and Finance with a mandate to report back to the House on December 12.
Governor Sanwo-Olu had on Thursday, October 27, presented the Bill value of ₦1,692,670,759,894 titled ‘Budget of Continuity’ to the House.
The lawmakers at Tuesday, November 1 plenary, described the proposed budget as achievable while suggesting other areas through which the government could generate more funds.
While the lawmakers commended the Sabwo-Sanwo-Olu led Executive arm over the proposal, the chairman of the House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, gave details of the budget.
Meanwhile, the lawmakers has summoned the Commissioner for Housing, Moruf-Akinderu Fatai, and Oluwatobi Lawal, Managing Director of the Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC) over allegations of a planned demolition of some houses in the Jakande Estate area of Eti-Osa.
Also summoned are the affected residents of the estate.
The issue was raised under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’ by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Noheem Adams.
Adams told his colleagues that the residents, aged between 70 and 80, stormed his house in the early hours of Tuesday, November 1, pleading that the government should be stopped from demolishing their houses.
He recalled that majority of the residents lived in Maroko before their houses were demolished in the 1990s and they were relocated to the Jakande Estate.
Adams further said the residents had lived peacefully until recently when they started facing threats of their building being demolished.
He added that the residents had written a petition addressed to the Speaker and their collective grievance was already being addressed by the House Committee on Public Petitions headed by Hon. Victor Akande.
The lawmaker further stated that on September 23, 2022, some members of the House led by Hon. Akande visited the Jakande Estate with some officials from the LBIC, who had promised that they would not demolish buildings in the area.
“However on October 12, officials of the LBIC went to the estate to mark houses for demolition,” Adams said.
In his contribution, Hon. Rotimi Olowo said the situation with the residents was pathetic, adding that the parties are supposed to reach mutual understanding because the owners of the estate had invested heavily in the place.
Olowo was supported by Hon. Adewale Temitope, who urged for an amicable resolution of the issue.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Obasa, before approving the invitation of the Commissioner and the LBIC MD, said there was need to understand the position of the government before a decision is taken on the issue.
He also agreed that there should be collaboration and understanding between the property owners and the government.
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