‘It could be a mistake ‘ Sanwo-Olu reacts to outrageous allocation in Lagos budget

Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Lagos State has revealed no administration is immune to mistakes.

Sanwo-Olu stated this why reacting to the outrage from Nigerians after the procurement record released by the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency showed some outrageous amounts were allocated for some items in the state budget

The state procurement records showed the governor approved N7.5 million to replace liquid fragrance in his office and N3 billion to purchase rechargeable fans for the office of his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat.

Other contracts awarded by the state’s Public Procurement Agency (PPA) in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2023 had included approval of over N440 million for the purchase of a new Lexus LX 600 Bulletproof Sport Utility Vehicle for use in the pool of the Office of Chief of Staff.

The governor, in a statement by his spokesman, Gboyega Akosile, noted that the controversy was unnecessary, stressing that the state had nothing to hide in its public expenditure.

He said,

“Over the weekend, we saw on social media how some people can politically turn around all of our attempts to be responsible, transparent, and committed to good governance. We don’t have a problem with any individual. We, indeed, acknowledged that this is the way it should be. We appreciate the fact that people can look at us in the face and say you need to do well in this area.

We don’t have a problem with the originator of the open letter; in short, we like him and we thank him. Indeed, if we are seen as a government that is transparent and responsible, we should not be shy of criticism. But, it is only when criticism is malicious and is misrepresenting the truth, that is when there will be a problem.

Officers in Lagos State have come out to show that there could be mistakes on some lines of items. There was a particular issue where an item was meant to be N2 million but was written as N2 billion. There are many discrepancies that have been corrected by PPA. We are not going to join issues with anyone on social media. All we are committed to is continuous service to the people of Lagos.” [CONTINUE READING HERE]>>>>