Former Lagos state Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget under Babatunde Fashola's government, Ben Akabueze has come out to defend his former boss in the N78 million website scandal which broke weeks ago.
In an interview with Kadaira Ahmed of Straight Talk With Kaidaia, Ben Akabueze says they ran a very detailed government that checked against fraud and that if the former governor wanted to steal, it wouldn't be N78 million
"I think it would be useful for people to look at the full scope of the project and then make a determination about whether or not it did not represent value for money.
For me, we ran an annual budget of over N400bn. I think that if he (Fashola) really wanted to steal money, it wouldn’t be N78m out of over N400bn that he had access to. Of course, every kobo of public funds must be accounted for and I hope in the future, we can get the full facts and it will be made available to the public.
I don’t know of anybody succeeding at anything like that (stealing) because we had a system that we designed as much as possible to prevent such. Take for instance, in our capital expenditure, we had in-house experts, so, if it was a construction project, regardless of the agency of government undertaking the project, the experts in the ministry of works and infrastructure would do an independent assessment of the cost.
We had quantity surveyors, engineers, architects that offered advice. If it was an IT related project, the team in the Ministry of Science and Technology would do an independent evaluation and so for you to steal; you would need to corrupt the whole process.””he said Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Ben Akabueze, thanks for your comment. We all knows that this escalated scandal is political. Some group of people are trying to tarnish the good reputation of our former able governor Fashola, all in the name of denying him ministerial appointment, in order for him not to out shine Lagos political Morgan. But they failed to understand that nigeria would only be denied the opportunity of BRF terlent in good governance. So far, its on record that his achievement in Lagos can not be surpass in many years to come. God will surely put them to shame, enemy of progress "BRF is an akanda eda by God" take it or leave it.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally
DeleteTHOSE WHO ARE IN GLASS HOUSE MUST NOT THROW STONES.THE MUCH THAT I KNOW ABOUT FASHOLA ISTHAT-HE WAS AN ACHIEVER OF NOTE TO BE RECKONED WITH.HE DOGGEDLY UPLIFT THE FORTUNES OF LAGOS.TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT,HE HAS SUCCEDED IN BUILDING A FANTASTIC STRUCTURE ON GOOD FOUNDATION MET ON GROUND.
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