If details in the Lagos State Government’s 2025 second-quarter budget performance document are anything to go by, each of the 40 members of the Lagos State House of Assembly is set to benefit from a controversial package, a property worth at least N155 million each, totaling N6.2 billion.
According to the document, the state allocated N6.2 billion for the purchase of 40 properties in Lagos or Abuja. Since there are only 40 legislators in the House, the allocation translates to one property per lawmaker.
So far, as of the end of the second quarter of 2025, N1 billion — representing about 16.1% of the total allocation — had already been spent.
The provision appears to be a parting gift for the lawmakers, given the drastic adjustments made from previous years.
In the 2024 budget, only N1.22 billion was initially earmarked for 40 properties. However, the Assembly raised the allocation to N6.2 billion. Despite this increase, only N126 million was eventually spent, a mere 2% performance rate, according to the document.
In contrast, the 2023 budget also carried an allocation of N1.22 billion for 40 properties. By the end of that fiscal year, about N1.131 billion had been spent, translating to 92.7% performance.
Interestingly, most of the N1.131 billion in 2023 was expended before the fourth quarter, with N424 million accounted for in the last quarter alone.
It remains unclear whether the 2023 expenditure of N1.131 billion was targeted at providing houses for members of the ninth Assembly, whose tenure ended in that year, or whether it was meant for the incoming tenth Assembly. The budget performance document offered no clarity on this.
Another unresolved concern is whether the provision of houses for legislators originated from the executive arm of government or was an initiative of the legislature itself.
Constitutionally, the 1999 Constitution (Section 124(5)) only permits state Houses of Assembly to legislate pensions or gratuities for former governors and theiallocation, not for lawmakers.
This raises questions on the legality and propriety of such allocations.
The revelation has already stirred debate among policy watchers and governance advocates, who argue that at a time when Lagosians grapple with inflation, infrastructure gaps, and rising living costs, the idea of spending N6.2 billion on houses for lawmakers could be seen as wasteful and insensitive.