The Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday passed a total of N1,768,014,155,285 as the budget for 2023 with the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, thanking the lawmakers for their collective sacrifice and the swiftness with which the Appropriation Bill was handled.
A breakdown of the approved budget size shows the sum of
N748,096,508,571 as Recurrent expenditure and N1,019,917,646,713 as Capital expenditure for the year
ending 31st December, 2023.
A part of the breakdown for the sectoral allocations also shows that N3,228,396,960 was approved as the new Overhead Cost of the Office of Civic Engagement for drug abuse advocacy.
The sum of N802,987,206 was approved as the new Capital Expenditure of the Ministry
of Economic Planning & Budget while N1,200,000,000 was approved as the new Overhead Cost (Social Intervention
and Humanitarian Programme) in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget.
Dr. Obasa, who presided over the plenary, said the passion with which the lawmakers processed the bill for passage showed their love for the progress of Lagos State.
He also expressed hope that residents of the State would show their satisfaction with the lawmakers and the All Progressives Congress (APC) by voting for candidates of the party in Lagos and at the centre during the forthcoming election.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had in October presented the sum of N1.69 trillion ‘budget of continuity’ to the House.
While receiving the proposal from the Governor, Speaker Obasa had urged that the 2023 budget “should have more human face, be targeted at reducing poverty and improving the welfare of the residents of the State as part of the THEMES agenda of the administration.”
Meta launches campaign to support small business owners
Meta has launched the ‘Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found’ campaign to spotlight and celebrate local businesses with unique gifting ideas while encouraging holiday shoppers to support local businesses during this festive trading window.
This was disclosed in a press statement released on Monday, which enpathized the need to help local businesses thrive and have their good ideas discovered.
Meta stated that the Festive season is a critical period for small businesses as a study from it’s latest Global State of Small business Report shows that 25% of SMB owners expect to make more than half of their annual revenue in the final months of the year.
The study observed that as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, the most significant challenge SMBs are facing now is the current state of the economy, supply chain disruption, inflation, threat of recession as well as production cost hikes. Due to the state of the economy, 16% of SMB owners within the past 6 months reduced the size of their workforce in Ghana while 5% of SMB owners in Nigeria have made similar adjustments to their workforce within the same timeframe.
While SMBs fight to find their footing during this post Covid era and navigate the current economic situation, Meta technologies have been instrumental in helping local businesses thrive and have their good ideas discovered.
In the lead up to the festive season, Meta has decided to launch the ‘Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found’ campaign to further build on the success of the campaign first launched in 2021. The campaign is aimed at spotlighting and celebrating local businesses with unique gifting ideas while encouraging holiday shoppers to support local businesses during this festive trading window.
Oluwasola Obagbemi, Corporate Communications Manager for Anglophone West Africa at Meta, said the reason for the campaign is to build on the success of the first campaign which was launched in 2021 and added that Meta is committed to empowering SMBs with free skills and resources to help them build thriving businesses, develop meaningful connections, and unlock economic potentials so they can continue making a positive impact across the world.
“This festive season, we seek to spotlight and tell the stories of SMBs with unique gifting ideas and provide SMBs with access to tools, support, and solutions needed to grow thriving businesses while reinforcing our continued support of small businesses to ensure they have a voice and ensure the right customers find their good ideas,” Obagbemi said.
Obagbemi further added that when surveyed, 49% of SMBs in Ghana reported using digital tools for advertising and 59% of SMBs in Nigeria reported generating at least 25% of their sales through digital channels in the past 30 days.
“It was revealed that 46% of operational SMBs in Nigeria on the Facebook app reported having sold their goods or services to customers in other countries in the past 5 years. This compares to the global average of 30%. These discoveries have been made possible through the provision of digital tools for SMBs to ensure they are found by the right customers.
Through this campaign, Meta continues to support and give a voice to more than 200 million businesses using Meta technologies to ensure their good ideas are found.”
