THE Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has made multiple claims regarding his achievements as governor since 2019 during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on October 16, 2024.
According to him, Lagos achieves 95 per cent budget performance every year, with the 2024 budget already 90 per cent executed.
He said, “If you see what our budget growth has been in the last five years when we came in, we inherited a budget of about N620 billion, today Lagos State is doing about N2.3 trillion.
“We are probably going to close this year’s budget at about N2.5 trillion. We have tripled the budget of this state and mind you, year-on-year we are doing about 95 per cent budget performance; this year alone we are well over 90 per cent,” the governor said.
Responding to the recent increase in school fees, the governor said the development only affects boarding schools in the state.
“We have over 600 schools in Lagos state that are all public schools. The model schools are just 33-34 of them. The boarding schools are just like half.”
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Sanwo-Olu first became the governor of Lagos State in 2019, following a competitive political journey within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). This was after he had earlier emerged as the APC’s gubernatorial candidate defeating the then incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, in the party’s primary elections in October 2018.
His victory in the primaries was largely backed by influential political figures, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is a former Lagos governor and key figure in the state’s politics. Sanwo-Olu’s campaign focused on infrastructure development, traffic management, and improving social services under his THEMES agenda (Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education, Technology, Security, and Governance).
He secured 739,445 votes, defeating his closest rival, Jimi Agbaje of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 206,141 votes. His tenure officially began on May 29, 2019.
The FactCheckHub reviewed some of the governor’s claims below:
CLAIM 1
Sanwo-Olu said Lagos state budget has tripled from about N620 billion to N2.3 trillion in 5 years.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
Checks show that the last budget signed by Sanwo-Olu’s predecessor, Akinwumi Ambode was in February 2018 and it is estimated to be N1.04 trillion. The budget was tagged, ‘Budget of Progress and Development.’
The budget size comprised N347,038,938,872.00 to be funded from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and N699,082,242,808. to be funded from Development Fund for both capital and recurrent expenditure for the year ending December 31, 2018.
However, before Sanwo-Olu took over on May 29, 2019, the state’s House of Assembly had on April 29, 2019 passed into law the 2019 appropriation bill of N852.316 billion presented to the lawmakers by Ambode on Feb.5, 2019. But the budget was upgraded to N873.5 billion and signed into law by Sanwo-Olu after he took over.
The last budget assented to law by Ambode in 2018 and the one met by Sanwo-Olu in early 2019 was higher than the N620billion quoted by the latter during the interview.
In addition, the Lagos annual budget which currently stands at ₦2.267 trillion has not also tripled N1.04 trillion which was the last budget signed by Ambode before he left the office.
THE VERDICT
The claim by Sanwo-Olu that Lagos’ annual budget has tripled in the last 5 years is FALSE; the last budget signed by Ambode, his predecessor, was N1.04 trillion and NOT N620 billion as he claimed.
CLAIM 2
Sanwo-Olu said Lagos is recording 90-94 per cent budget performance year in and year out.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
Sanwo-Olu assented to the N2.26 trillion 2024 Appropriation Bill passed into law by the state House of Assembly, on Friday, January 5, 2024. The budget, titled ‘Budget of Renewal’, comprised N1.02 trillion recurrent expenditure, which is 45 per cent of the total budget, and N1.22 trillion capital expenditure, which is 55 per cent of the budget. Even though a few changes were made to the budget in September, it did not change the size of the budget.
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The FactCheckHub reviewed the Lagos state budget performance over the years under Sanwo-Olu to appraise Sanwo-Olu’s claim.
According to the latest state’s budget performance report which is for the second quarter of 2024. The Q2 Cumulative Budget performance of Lagos state was 37.6%, while the Quarterly Budget Performance was 75% for the period which ended 30th June 2024. This indicates that, as of mid-year, only 37.6% of the total budget had been executed, significantly lower than the 90-94% claimed by Sanwo-Olu.
Moreover, a review of the 2023 budget performance showed that out of a total budget of ₦1.768 trillion, only ₦1.564 trillion was achieved by the end of the year, representing an 88.5% performance. This contradicts Sanwo-Olu’s assertion that Lagos consistently records 90-94% budget performance each year since he took office. Additionally, previous years’ performances revealed that the state recorded 72.2% in 2022 and 85.7% in 2021, indicating that Sanwo-Olu’s claim is FALSE.
THE VERDICT
Sanwo-Olu’s assertion that Lagos State records a budget performance of 90-94 per cent annually is FALSE; the state’s yearly budget has consistently fallen below that range.
CLAIM 3
Sanwo-Olu stated that Lagos State has over 600 public schools, with around 33-34 being model schools, and only a fraction of these are boarding schools.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MOSTLY TRUE.
According to the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, the state operates 1,021 primary schools, 369 junior secondary schools, and 329 senior secondary schools, bringing the total to 1,719 public schools. Additionally, the ministry confirms that there are 32 model colleges, most of which are boarding schools, except two schools (Vetland Junior and Senior Secondary Schools).
While the governor’s estimate of 33-34 model schools is close, the actual number is 32. However, his claim of over 600 public schools significantly underestimates the total number, which is 1,719.
THE VERDICT
Sanwo-Olu’s claim that Lagos State has over 600 public schools, with around 33-34 being model schools is MOSTLY TRUE; data by the state’s ministry of Basic and Secondary Education ministry show that there are 1,719 public schools in the state, with 32 being model schools.
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