Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, has commended Funso
Doherty for his open letter on the state’s procurement awards.
Sanwo-Olu spoke on Tuesday during the commissioning of the
Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) complex at Ikeja.
The governor spoke amid criticisms of public expenditure by
the Lagos government after Doherty’s letter.
Doherty, governorship candidate of the African Democratic
Congress (ADC) in the last election, had
in an open letter to Sanwo-Olu posted via X on Saturday, drew attention to some
projects funded with taxpayers’ money.
Doherty said he analysed the register of public procurement
awards by Lagos State Public Procurement Agency (LPPA) for the second and third
quarters of 2023.
In the letter, the ADC candidate listed some projects
appropriated by the state government that “require greater scrutiny”.
He cited that N2,017,840,000 was appropriated for the
“provision of items (rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights, and fridge) in the
office of the deputy governor”.
However, Obafemi Hamzat, the deputy governor of Lagos,
denied the allegation, saying N2,017,840 was budgeted for the supply of the
items.
LPPA has apologised for the “unintended misinterpretations”
of information published on its website.
‘MISTAKES WERE MADE’
Speaking at the commissioning, Sanwo-Olu said his
administration accepts constructive criticism, adding that he does not have a
problem with Doherty concerning the open letter.
“We don’t have a
problem with the originator of an open letter. In fact, we like it and we want
to thank him,” he said.
The Lagos governor said his administration is “transparent
and responsible” with public funds.
Sanwo-Olu added that officers in the procurement agency have
come to the public to say “mistakes” were made on “minor items”.
“I’m sure that the officers in Lagos, they have all come up
to show that indeed you can make mistakes on minor items,” he said.
“I hear that a particular one in which an item was meant to
be two million, it was written as two billion.”
The governor said his administration would continue to serve
the people of Lagos, adding that his administration will not join issues with
people on social media.
“We are not going to
join issues on social media. All we want to do is to continue to serve the good
people of Lagos state,” he said.
“The website will continue to work. We will continue to put
out all our numbers. We will continue to pride ourselves at all times that
indeed we can make mistakes but it is not with any intention for us to be
unmindful of what public good is.”
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