Corruption allegations, blot on Fashola’s administration

r. Babatunde Fashola
Explanation by a former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola, on how the N78m he approved for the upgrade of his
personal website is considered unsatisfactory, FISAYO FALODI
writes
Admirers of a former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola, if given the opportunity, will like to roll out the drums
and celebrate their hero for the successful completion of two
terms in office. They will like to use various yardsticks to
assess his two tenures in office and come to the conclusion that
the 13th governor of Lagos State had fulfilled his electioneering
promises to the people.
They will, no doubt, hail the former governor for serving the
people meritoriously while in office. The admirers will like to
point to the several accolades he won for the various
programmes executed by his administration. They will also like
to mention the fact that some of his policies were testimonies of
his excellent performance.
To some watchers of political events in the state, Fashola’s
administration marked a historic turning point in Lagos since the
state was created on May 27, 1967. Of the former governors’
achievements while in office, his supporters picked five as most
significant.
They hailed the former governor for personally overseeing the
battle to contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus brought
into the country by a United States-Liberian citizen, Patrick
Sawyer, in the state and investment in education leading to the
reintegration and creation of new blocks of classrooms,
distribution of free text books and provision of workrooms and
libraries as outstanding achievements.
Other Fashola’s achievements, according to them, are renewal
of infrastructure culminating in the construction of many roads,
building pedestrian bridges, execution of over 110 projects in
rural communities and prioritising of security with emphasis on
turning hideouts that previously served as bases for impostors
and armed robbers into beautiful environment. They also listed
the establishment of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund to
effectively finance the security needs of the state as a major
feat achieved by the ex-governor.
Based on the widely proclaimed catalogue of achievements by
Fashola, some analysts are already speculating that President
Muhammadu Buhari may appoint the former governor as one of
his ministers.
But as plausible as the conjecture sounds, critics believe that
Fashola has to answer some questions bordering on integrity
and how he managed public resources while he was in office as
the governor. The critics alleged that the former governor’s
hands were not clean in terms of management of public funds
and asked Buhari not to consider him for appointment in his yet-
to-be-formed cabinet.
Like Fashola’s admirers who catalogued his achievements for
likely appointment as a minister, a civil society group, Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders, also felt that the former governor
deserved no higher responsibility because his administration
was engulfed in many controversies that could not be
overlooked.
CACOL Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, listed what he
considered as Fashola’s “sin” to include failure by the former
governor to fix the dilapidated public schools in the state and his
refusal to disclose how his administration spent the $200m
World Bank education fund even when the Socio-Economic Right
Accountability Project invoked the Freedom of Information Act
to know how the money was expended.
He said instead, Fashola ran the state’s affairs in secrecy by
claiming that the FOI Act did not apply to state governments.
While insisting that Fashola should be made to account for the
alleged moral and financial misconducts that characterised his
administration, Adeniran said independent investigations by
CACOL revealed that the 1.36km Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge
reportedly built for N25bn actually cost only N6bn.
He, however, wondered why the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission ignored the series of petitions he said he had
written to the anti-graft body to probe the various projects
Fashola claimed to have executed in the face of the over
N500bn debt left behind by his administration.
Based on its finding, CACOL wrote a letter to the President,
asking him not to consider Fashola for ministerial appointment
while constituting his cabinet.
The group’s letter to Buhari had read, “Mr. President, we are
constrained at this point in time to bring to your attention our
critical reaction to the unbridled speculation making the rounds
for some time now, from the members of the public as well as
the media, as to the fact that the immediate past governor of
Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, is being considered by the
Presidency for higher national responsibility. Feelers have it that
his name is prominent on the list of the president’s nominees for
key offices in your administration.
“It is gratifying that you have promised at various fora that your
appointments would be purely based on merit and that tested
technocrats, with impeccable records, would be given their
rightful places in your administration, as a way of ensuring good
governance to the people of Nigeria.
“It is against this background that our organisation is appealing
to you to please take the pains to dig deep into Mr. Babatunde
Fashola’s record of performance as well as that of financial
impropriety on the part of his government while in office.”
Besides allegation by CACOL, the Lagos State Public
Procurement Agency claimed that the former governor approved
the sum of N78m for the upgrade of his personal website
www.tundefashola.com in 2014.
What made the revelation an attention-grabbing one, according
to observers, was that it was published by the state’s agency.
The observers therefore doubted that the revelation was meant
to malign the former governor’s reputation, contrary to a claim
by Fashola’s aides that it was a campaign of calumny against
the former governor’s chances in Buhari’s cabinet.
The contract for the upgrade of the website was awarded to Info
Access Plus Limited by the Office of the Chief of Staff of the
Governor.
The expenditure published on the state public procurement
office’s website was first exposed by foremost budget analytic
firm, BudgiT.
Other questionable expenditure, among others, said to have
been incurred by Fashola’s administration included N1.2bn
vaguely spent on the construction of pedestrian bridges along
Eti-Osa Lekki-Epe Expressway. The spending was tagged
“vaguely” because it did not specify the number of bridges
constructed with the money.
Following these revelations, BudgiT called for probe into
Fashola’s finances and expenditures while in office.
The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party
described the N78m spent on the website upgrade as reckless,
adding that it was part of the “needless” expenditure that jerked
up the Lagos State debt profile under Fashola to N500bn.
The state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, while
stressing that Fashola spent the tax payers’ money on a website
that exclusively served him, also asked Buhari to initiate moves
to probe the former governor, instead of considering him for
appointment.
Gani said, “The website was more than 70 times the actual cost.
Little wonder it is on record that he is the former governor that
incurred the highest debt in the history of Lagos State.”
But Fashola defended the N78.3m approved for the upgrade of
his website, confirming that the money was actually spent.
He, however, accused his critics of refusing to break down the
details of the transaction to cause confusion in the state.
He had said, “As far as the website contract is concerned, yes
there was a contract. It went through procurement and was
approved by the government agency authorised to do so. One of
the services was an upgrade quoted for N12.5m but awarded
for N12m.
“There were other services that were new like a hand over
countdown clock, mobile Apps for Google, for IOS and Ipad, for
Microsoft and for Research in Motion (Blackberry), which the
existing website did not have, as well as the annual
maintenance cost for managing the website.”
The former governor equally told CACOL to stop worrying itself
with the belief that he was interested in ministerial appointment.
Fashola said, “I cannot conclude without responding to the
crusade of CACOL and their ilk seeking my prosecution on
allegations that have no proof and writing pre-emptive letters to
the Presidency.
“In case they are unaware, I am not looking for a job. I expect
them to know that allegations of wrongdoing are not resolved
without evidence, neither are they resolved in press
conferences.”
A social scientist, Mr. Ajiboye Akinniyi, who described himself as
one of Fashola’s fans, said though he would continue to praise
the former governor for surpassing his predecessor in terms of
performance, the former governor should see the agitation by
the people to seek explanation on how their money was spent as
one of the responsibilities of the office.
Allegations bordering on financial impropriety levelled against
anyone, especially those who held public offices in one time or
the other deserve explanation,” he said.
Akinniyi, however, asked those entrusted with positions of
responsibility to bear in mind that people are watching them.
He said though Fashola had explained how the N78m was
spent, that did not mean that the former governor would not be
asked questions bordering on the financial management of the
state in the future, if the need arises.
Akinniyi said, “Fashola ought to have known before now that the
people might want to ask him questions concerning how he
spent their money for eight years; he ought to have known that
holding public office equally demands accountability, especially
as speculation is rife that Buhari may appoint him to head one
of the key ministries.”
A financial analyst, Mrs. Atinuke Owotutu, said Fashola might
have satisfied the curiosity of those seeking explanation on how
the N78m was spent, but the former governor should get
prepared to satisfy others who might want detailed explanation
on how other expenses were made under his watch.
Owotutu said she had never believed that Fashola worked
enough in Lagos State, considering the huge amount of
allocation and Internally Generated Revenue that were available
to him while in office.
She said, “I have always asked people not to be deceived. One
thing is when you have a large number of people toeing the
same path, you have got to stop and think, ‘Is this the right
direction?’ Nobody needed to tell me that Fashola didn’t do
enough regarding the level of performance expected from his
administration.
“He must come out and account for other allegations that have
been levelled against him. It is not enough for him to say he
doesn’t want to join issues with anyone. He should; this is
accountability we are talking about.”
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