The Lagos State House Assembly
has set-up a nine-man ad-hoc committee to investigate the purchase of 820 buses
worth N45b by the administration of the immediate past Governor of the State,
Akinwunmi Ambode.
The committee is chaired by Hon.
Fatai Mojeed and other members are: Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, Hon. Bisi Yusuff,
Hon. Afinni Olanrewaju, Hon. Rasheed Makinde, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu, Hon.
Mojisola Meranda, Hon Temitope Adewale and Hon Kehinde Joseph.
The House resolved that it became
necessary to investigate the purchase of the 820 buses out of the 5,000 buses
proposed by former Ambode for mass transit in the state, which he went ahead to
purchase despite objection by the House of Assembly.
In a motion titled: Lagos State
House of Assembly Motion Number 2, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, stated that the House
noted that at the Executive/ Legislative parley held at Golden Tulip in FESTAC
in September 2017, Ambode informed the House that 5,000 buses would be bought
by the government.
He added that the executive
proposed to spend N17 billion to purchase the buses in the 2017 budget, saying
however the House declined approval as it did not follow stipulated terms.
“In the 2018 and 2019 budgets,
the state government proposed N24 Billion and N7 Billion respectively, but
these were not approved.
“The state government still went
ahead to import 820 buses at N7 Billion, and out of them 520 are still awaiting
clearance at the ports.
“The buses were later bought
without approval by the state House of Assembly,” he disclosed.
He added that the House was
worried that 520 buses were still awaiting clearance from the bonded warehouse
at the Port and that they were purchased with taxpayers’ money without approval.
Yishawu then submitted that the
House should set up an ad hoc committee to investigate all the issues relating
to the purchase of the buses.
He also stated that the House
should investigate the cost of the purchase of the buses and other issues
surrounding the purchase to prevent a re-occurrence.
Speaker Mudashiru Obasa pointed
out that the House needed to prevent waste because the deed had already been
done.
According to him: “The vehicles
are in the ports and they have been there for almost a year. The state will
continue to suffer if we allow the buses to stay in the ports.
Obasa noted that contrary to the
practice in the state, Ambode’s administration delved into operation, when “we
should be the regulators of transporters, the state should not operate buses.
“How much are we giving the buses
out should be addressed. We should get the buses to the roads and safe the
state from further wastes,” he said.
In his contribution, Hon. Yinka
Ogundimu said: “We need to investigate every transaction that has to do with
the procurement of the buses. It would become a bad precedent if we don’t do
anything about this.
“A huge amount of money still
needed to be paid on the purchase of these buses. Whoever has erred should be
brought to book,” he said.
Hon. Saka Solaja said: “In
awarding a contract there should be two parties. The contractor should note if
the company is viable and if it is provided for in the budget. Yet, the
contractors went ahead to take up the contract.
“We need to investigate the issue
and whoever is culpable should refund money to the government. By getting ISPO
without budgetary approval should attract punishment,” he said.
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