Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa has said that the fallout of the presentation of the 2019 Budget by the state government has led to several insinuations in some quarters.
Obasa, who was reacting to the presentation of the 2019 Budget by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday, stated that the fallout of the budget brawl has led to series of negative publications both on social media and in the print media.
The Speaker stressed that the publication was being sponsored by "a faceless group calling themselves the Legislative Probity and Accountability (LPA) led by one Olu Fajana with its pseudonym."
He added that this started immediately the misunderstanding between the Executive and Legislative in respect of the Y2019 budget; which he said meant that such could not be ruled out to have emanated from the Executive.
"A section of the media has even been mischievously misled into sensationally writing all manners of write-ups against this assembly.
"Some of our friends in the media are personalizing the issue thereby
misinforming the public.
"The fact of the matter is that the issue is between one arm of government and another. What was at stake then was nothing but the matter of appropriation.
"Unfortunately, no one from the Executive has risen to refute the
baseless allegations. Since no one has come up to address this, it is
incumbent on us then to come forward and debunk the allegations."
The Speaker then used the medium to challenge the Governor, the Finance Commissioner and the Accountant General of the state to 'prove that we have been collecting N800 million per month since the onset of this administration.
"Thank God, the governor is before us here today; so also, is the Finance commissioner sitting in this hallowed chamber. I likewise challenge the faceless group to prove that this Assembly has been collecting N800 million per month as alleged."
Obasa added that the event was also an opportunity to shed more light on "unsubstantiated allegations regarding financial misappropriation, which is a clearly well-orchestrated campaign to disrepute my character and integrity as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, and by implication tarnish the image of the legislative arm of the state government."
He emphasized that the monthly running cost of the Lagos State
House of Assembly covers the entire expenditure of the House
comprising the 40 elected legislators and the administration of over
700 staff.
According to him, it includes sundry items such as travels, training (both local and overseas) office running and maintenance, vehicles, entertainment, publicity, security, protocols, logistics and administrativecosts among others.
'Dear Lagosians, as an arm of government, we are not at odds with
the Governor over anything.
"Rather, we are diligently playing our roles in contributing to the transparent and accountable governance that has made Lagos the envy of all and a model frame of reference in terms of development in this political dispensation.
"We need to remind ourselves that democracy is about institution and we must all learn to protect this. We must not, in whatever
circumstance, derogate or smear this institution. Failure to do so will affect our democracy," he said.
Obasa thanked meaningful Lagosians and Nigerians, who he said had been calling to ensure that peace reign in Lagos as well as the quick presentation of the budget.
He appreciated the likes Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos, Alhaji Musiliu Adeola Kunbi Smith, members of Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, all members of Governing Advisory Council (GAC), the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Oshinbajo and particularly APC National Leader, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu "for their concerted efforts towards ensuring that peace reign supreme among all the three arms of government in Lagos State."
He explained that the role of budget in economy and its essence
are key as provided in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in Section
121, stipulating that the Governor must prepare and lay the budget
before the House, which he said now creates the avenue to incur expenditure.
"All the arms of government must work together to ensure economic
growth and human development.
"We also need to know that infrastructure of the state is crucial, and the position of Lagos State is germane in Nigeria and its West African suburbs.
"Being the fifth largest economy in Africa, everything must be done to sustain the leadership quality of Lagos State in all spheres.
"Nevertheless, may I call on the governor that with the few months to go, he should endeavour to attend to urgent needs of Lagosians
especially by addressing the inner roads of the state as well as issue
of environment.
"We should be cognizant of the fact that the essence of democratic governance is that people remain the object of development," he said
The Speaker said that with the remaining parts of this tenure, more could still be done to ease socio – economic problems, particularly on finishing all road projects and rehabilitations, provision of housing, making surethat our environment is clean and poverty alleviation programmes embarked upon, before the end of this administration.
"As we hope that the Y2019 Budget will be of great benefit to the
people of Lagos State, we however appeal to His Excellency and
Lagosians to give us sufficient time to enable the House do a thorough job on a financial document that has great influence on the lives of the people.
"The Assembly would not delay the passage of the budget, but we will be interested in placing high premium on the need to ensure that the interests of Lagosian are protected socio-economically and politically. We are your representatives here at the House of assembly and we are duty bound to do justice to every sector of the state’s economy.
"May I use this medium, however, to appeal to everyone, especially
Lagosians to be law abiding as we prepare for the general elections. I
urge us all to come out en masse to support the continuation of the
good jobs our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has embarked on since the beginning of our administration by voting for all our candidates at all levels in the forthcoming elections as we move on to the Next Level," he said.
