Lagos Assembly receives N200bn bond financing request

In a bid to seamlessly finance key infrastructure and hasten even development across the divides, the Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday received two funding requests from the State Government seeking legislative approval for financing initiatives.

In two separate letters from the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Abayomi Oluyomi,  read on the floor of the House during plenary session by the Clerk, Mrs. Adenike Oshinowo, the requests were made public.

Sequel the presentation, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, referred both requests to the Joint Committee on Economic Planning and Budget and the Committee on Finance for detailed consideration. The committees were directed to submit their reports to the House on Thursday.

The first request seeks the Assembly’s resolution authorising Lagos State’s participation in the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) Receivables Discounting Programme under the Lagos State Infrastructure Finance Fund.
According to the government, the programme is intended to provide immediate liquidity by leveraging future FAAC allocations to fund critical infrastructure and other capital projects across the state.

The second request seeks legislative approval for the state’s proposed ₦200 billion Series V bond issuance under its ₦1 trillion Debt and Hybrid Instruments Issuance Programme.

The bond when eventually secucured, according to the letter, will attend to financing priority projects, including the New Massey Children’s Hospital, Lagos Island General Hospital, the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Line, the Omu Creek Bridge, and other strategic infrastructure projects.

The House is expected to consider the committees’ recommendations when they are presented on Thursday before taking a final decision on the requests.