Victor Ezeja
AdminThe Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has finally opened up on his administration’s procurement record released by the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency (PPA) the content of which has received heavy criticism from Nigerians, stating that he likes the fact that his government is being criticized over it.
Speaking during the commissioning of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Building, PWD Ikeja on Tuesday, Sanwo-Olu assured people of the state of impactful governance, noting that his administration will continue to welcome criticisms so as to further improve governance in the state.
Recall that candidate of the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) in the March 18 governorship election, Funsho Doherty, had in an open letter analyzed the register of public procurement awards by the Lagos government for the second and third quarters of 2023 and listed some projects awarded by the state government and frivolous line items that require greater scrutiny.
The open letter has continued to generate comments and reactions among Lagosians and Nigerians at large on social media since it was made public by Doherty who is a chartered accountant. Reacting to the procurement document, the Director of BudgIT, Olusegun Onigbinde, said the revelation shows that Nigerian leaders were not in turn with reality.
“Nigerian leaders live in alternate universe. Damn!!! N30m monthly empowerment programme for wife of Deputy Governor. Taxpayers dey work, politicians and friends dey chop,” he wrote on social media. Similarly, activist, Rinu Oduala, said the revelation by the gubernatorial candidate tells why some people would not allow free and fair polls in Lagos State. “It’s evident why some would rather die than conduct free and fair elections,” Rinu said.
Another X user who tweeted under the handle Concerned Nigerians, said revelation was an indication that All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration was just banking on the fact that Nigerians are lazy to perpetrate corruption.
According to him, “Thank You Sir (Doherty) for taking your time out to do this, 7m for air fresheners. 2b for rechargeable fans and fridge for one office. 500m to renovate a church.
“Among other things pointed out APC are just banking on the fact that Nigerians are too lazy to read.” @ify submitted: “This is pure corruption of the highest order by the Lagos State Govt. It still beats my imagination on why the govt will spend such huge amount of money to renovate a church”.
While appreciating critics of the public procurement document, Sanwo-Olu said the State will continue to publish its spending and keep it open for public scrutiny.
In the footage shared by Jubril Gawat, Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on his “X” handle, Sanwo-Olu said: “We are committed, responsible and transparent. We don’t have a problem with anybody, or any individual. We acknowledge that these are ways we should be doing things.
“We appreciate criticism. We appreciate the fact that people can look at us in the face that we need to do well in the state.
“So we don’t have a problem with the originator of an open letter. In fact, we like it and we want to thank him, and that’s to say that indeed, to be a government that’s firm and responsible, we should not shy away from criticism.
“But it is only when criticism is malicious, unintended and it is to misrepresent the truth and that’s where there’s a problem.
“Some officers in Lagos have all come out to say that indeed we can make mistakes on some lines of items. I heard of a particular one that an item was meant to be N2M but it was written as N2bn.
“For me, I’m leading a team of very dedicated public officials; I’m leading a team of committed civil servants. I’m leading a team of self-motivated public officials who want to stand and say that they can be well recognised.
“All we want to do is to serve the people of Lagos, and serve the state with every iota of strength and commitment we have, and believing Lagosians can truly see the benefit of our service.
“I just want to make this point, and put it to rest. The website will continue to work. We’ll put all our numbers there and we’ll continue to pride ourselves at all times that indeed we can make mistakes but it is not any intention for us to be unmindful of what public goods are, and to ensure that public goods is what will continue to be respected.”
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