A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Femi Saheed, on Thursday said the N3 trillion 2025 budget will address health and transportation challenges in the state.
Speaking at the Citizens Accountability and Rights Forum (CARF) organized by the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Shared said the government is going to establish Lagos State Medical University and Sciences to address issues of medical personnel shortages.
Shared said: “As a finance expert and as a politician, I will say Lagos State is above her pairs but we are not yet there.
“Lagos State is the only state where you can see budgetary items scrutinized with the invitation of religious bodies, traditional leaders and NGOs.
“This is to say that we have the people in mind and you look behind you, you will see the ongoing road project from Opebi to Maryland. It was through citizens engagement that the project was conceived.
“And you can see the billions of naira that the state government is spending in that aspect. By the time that place is open up, it is going to ease traffic, safe time and cost, and it is your taxes and money that is being used to execute the project.
“If you look at the Lagos State House of Assembly under the able leadership of Dr Obasa, we are the only one that is engaging the citizens quarterly.
“We call it stakeholders engagement. Citizens, whereby citizens are invited before budget preparation to itemize their needs in their various communities.
“Through this engagement we were able to reduce many challenges in the state. Lagos State Government is ambitious and we are going to set up Lagos State Medical University and Sciences.
“This means we are going to have a specialised university that is different from Lagos State University and it will be producing just doctors, nurses and other medical personnel.
“By the time we increase the number of medical personnel in the state, we will be solving a critical challenge in our health system.
“All over the world you can see that transportation is an issue, even in Lagos State it is an issue and we are going to develop our rail system to address transportation challenges in the state.
“I was a place yesterday and I only security personnel I saw there was Lagos State security officers like Lagos State Taskforce and the Neighbourhood Watch.
“We know that we are not there yet or we are better than anybody but we are just saying that we have plans with the things we have been doing in the state.”
On his part, the chairman of CDHR, Comrade Debo Adeniran, said financing s the backbone of successful participatory governance.
Adeniran said without adequate and sustainable funding, the vision of an inclusive and citizen-driven government cannot be realized.
He said: “Funding is required to bridge the gap between government and marginalized groups, such as low-income earners, women and people living in slums or remote areas.”
