Ever before the October 2018 All Progressives Congress’ (APC) governorship primary election in Lagos, the relationship between the executive arm of government led by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the legislature led by Mudashiri Obasa, the speaker, had been that of mutual suspicion.
Governor Ambode had refused to heed the directive of the powerbrokers in the state not to seek re-election for a second term in office. He had insisted on contesting the primary election which had to be shifted three times before it eventually held on October 2, 2018.
The top echelon of the APC in Lagos, led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor and chairman of Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the highest decision making body for the party in the state, simply viewed Ambode’s insistence as affront. Ambode went ahead to lose the governorship ticket to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the preferred candidate of the GAC and majority of the party’s faithful in Lagos.
From that moment, it became obvious that the governor was not going to have it smooth anymore. Majority of the 40-man state House of Assembly are Tinubu’s loyalists and hold allegiance to him. So also are several appointees in Ambode’s cabinet. It was no surprise therefore, that amid the primary election’s crisis, Ambode’s deputy, Idiat Adebule, some commissioners and special advisers refused to swim along with their boss.
Not even a fence-mending broadcast on October 3, 2018 via state-owned Lagos Television, in which Ambode accepted defeat and declared it was time for various political actors in APC to join hands and move Lagos forward had sufficiently pacified the ego of the powerbrokers who felt that Ambode went too far by daring them to contest in the primary election in the first place.
Since the controversial primary election, Ambode has been struggling with governance in Nigeria’s economic capital with nothing seemingly working.
The governor does not currently seem to be enjoying the full support of the Lagos’ APC leadership while the state lawmakers are at his jugular, threatening impeachment over allegations of ‘gross misconducts’ part of which is that he’s spending funds not appropriated and approved by the House of Assembly.
At the centre of deepening disagreement between the executive and legislative arms of government is the 2019 Budget which has not been formally presented by the governor or passed by the lawmakers.
Sources informed that flowing from the primary election crisis which left Ambode’s cabinet divided; most commissioners could not provide timely input to get the budget in a form ready for presentation to the house in the usual window. Ever since then, attempts to present the budget proposal have been unsuccessful, due to what some described as political grandstanding. There is also the allegation of arm-twisting of the executive to release huge sums of money (state funds) to prosecute the 2019 general election.
At a press conference at the Lagos Airport Hotel last Thursday, some civil society groups alleged that the move by the state of House of Assembly to impeach Ambode was to force him to open the state’s treasury and release a whopping N100 billion to the powerbrokers to fund the 2019 general election.
According to the groups, the allegation of gross misconducts, spending of non-appropriated fund and delayed budget presentation are but a smokescreen, as the real reason is Ambode’s refusal to oblige their request.
Leaders of the group, Mark Adebayo, Lawson Babajide, Toyin Raheem coming under the umbrella body- Coalition Against Corruption and Bad Governance (CACOBAG), alleged that “Ambode’s fresh trouble started because he refused to part with N100 billion for Tinubu to fund his “political protéges running for public offices in the 2019 elections in and outside the state.”
During the press conference tagged ‘Lagos State Assembly is becoming a political abattoir for the murder of democracy in Nigeria,’ the CACOBAG said: “We are watching with keen attention the whole developments surrounding the current show of shame and shall mobilise Lagosians against the governor should he succumb to the blackmail of the prebendalist political class in the state to loot the state’s treasury at their behest.”
Before Thursday’s press conference, another group operating under the aegis of Legislative Probity and Accountability (LPA) had protested against the impeachment move and requested the state House Assembly to account for the N28.8 billion allegedly collected as running cost.
However, Sanai Agunbiade, majority leader of the House, at a press conference he addressed after an emergency plenary of the house the previous day (Wednesday), explained that the lawmakers were not witch-hunting Ambode, but wanted due process on the appropriation bill. The due process, according to the legislator, is for the governor to formally lay the budget before the house as required by law.
But while this conflict lasts, observers are worried that the estimated 21 million residents of the state are being denied the benefits of progressive governance, especially in the area of infrastructure development.
Insiders name some of the key projects that ought to have been completed but now dragging as a result of the grandstanding to include the International Airport Road up to the Oshodi Interchange.
The airport road is designed with added advantage of expanded lanes, streetlights and better traffic flow such that air travelers would no longer get stuck in traffic congestion thereby missing their flights.
The Oshodi Transport Interchange is another iconic project being slowed down. This, together with the international airport road, would provide visitors to Lagos with a positive outlook.
Same goes for the Lagos Bus Reforms Initiative (BRI) for which 820 buses have been imported as part of the first phase of the project intended in the long run to inject 5,000 high capacity buses into the Lagos public transportation system.
Consideration to the main suppliers is that local assembly plants would be put in place. A number of bus terminals, depots, bus stops and lay-bys are at near completion.
The state has also invested in Intelligent Transport Systems and Operational Control Centre. This project, apart from improving the transport situation in Lagos, is expected to create 8,500 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs.
Also dragged down is the Ayinke House within the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). This long-famed maternity hospital has been in a state of disrepair going to six years now. Significant modernisation has taken place with works nearing completion.
There is also the dredging of five ferry routes with work standing at about 80 percent completion stage. Completion would make it possible for the immediate deployment of six modern ferries purchased by the government. This is intended to improve water transport thereby reducing the strain on road transport.
Also coming to a standstill is the Imota Rice Mill in Ikorodu. On the back of the success of the Lake Rice partnership with Kebbi State, the Lagos government had decided to establish this 32-ton rice mill. This would not only create job opportunities, but address the potential food security challenges as the population continues to grow with a net of about 90 people coming into Lagos every hour.
The Pen Cinema flyover in Agege is another project affected by the politicking in Lagos. The project, which is within the constituency of Obasa, speaker of the state House of Assembly, is not likely to be completed before the end of the Ambode administration. But a delayed break would extend the logistics challenges resulting from constructions of this magnitude.
Lagos has been known to be the destination for arts, entertainment and tourism, especially with the record number of visitors over the December period. Notable projects to reinforce these include: Construction of the JK Randle Centre and the Onikan Stadium. These are other key projects initiated by the government with immense benefits to Lagosians, but now suffering serious setbacks.
Analysts are of the view that infrastructure development initiative stimulates economic development. They warn that if the budget stalemate continues, there would be more telling effects if operational costs relating to emergency and security matters, including funding the ‘light up’ Lagos project, escalate.
Timothy Olawale, director-general of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), observed that the government being the largest single employer of labour in the state must necessarily resolve the budget, as it has the potential to impact civil servants’ salaries and pension obligations. Lagos, he said, can ill-afford a “short down”.
He believed it’s time for the executive and legislative arms to immediately address the budget debacle. The completion of the pending projects, he said, would give the in-coming administration a good platform to continue to address the massive infrastructure gaps in the best interest of Lagosians.”
JOSHUA BASSEY
