If work-plan for the N1.046tr 2018 budget signed into law on Monday is anything to count on, then there are signs that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode may build four new Stadia in Lagos state.According to sectoral breakdown of the budget, the Governor plans to build the new football and athletic stadia in Igbogbo, Epe, Badagry and Ajeromi Ifelodun (Ajegunle) areas of the state before the fourth quarter of the year.Ambode who christened the Appropriation Bill as Budget of Progress and Development noted that the stadia are aimed at driving youth inclusion and empowerment in the state leveraging sport.NationsSport can reckon that most of the stadia used for football competitive games especially Nigeria Professional Football Leagues(NPFL) are Teslim Balogun and the Agege Township Stadium otherwise dubbed the Temple. Though there are other stadia but are not in use for any tournament as they are undergoing construction and expansion.In its quest to promote excellence in sports and market the state through sports tourism, the state administration believes building more standard stadia across regions in the state is a step in the right direction, said Ibitoye Toun, a resident and grassrootball analyst.Among the stadium under-construction in the state is the Campus Mini stadium. Work on the stadium started last year and there are high expectation that it would be a finish project this year.Ambode, while presenting the 2018 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly, had pledged that his administration would make every effort to complete all ongoing projects as well as initiate new ones to consolidate on the development recorded in the last two and half years.Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade who put the projection for revenue (IGR) at N897billion,added that the remaining part of the budget would be funded by deficit financing.said, Today is a good day in our State; the Governor just signed the 2018 Appropriation Law. For the first time the Law has about N1.046trillion as total amount that we would spend in 2018.The Budget is tagged Budget of Progress and Development and in terms of capital and recurrent expenditure, we have 63 per cent Capital and 37 per cent Recurrent and that shows that we are really big on infrastructural renewal.In terms of revenue, we are expecting a total of N897billion both from the State and Federal receipts, so the rest would be funded through budget deficit financing.We are focusing this year on completing all projects that we have started knowing fully well that people would say that this is an election year, but the Governor is focused on delivering the dividends of democracy; we are not slowing down, We want to really ensure that we touch every aspect of Lagos that needs to be touched in terms of infrastructural renewal, welfare and other things that the Governor promised, Ashade said.The post Ambode to spend N1.046tr on four new stadia, others appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.
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