The Lagos State House Assembly yesterday set up a committee to investigate the purchase of 820 buses by the administration of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of the state.
The lawmakers stated that it was important to investigate the purchase of the 820 buses out of the 5,000 buses proposed by Ambode for mass transit in the state, which was purchased despite objection by the House of Assembly.
In a motion titled: “Lagos State House of Assembly Motion Number 2, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti Osa 2), explained that the House noted that at the executive/ legislative parley held at Golden Tulip in FESTAC in September 2017, Ambode informed the lawmakers that 5,000 buses would be bought by the state government.
He stated that the executive proposed to spend N17 billion to purchase the buses in the 2017 budget, but that this was not approved by the assembly.
“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,” he said.
He added that the House was worried that 520 buses were still awaiting clearance from the bonded warehouse to be cleared, and that they were purchased with taxpayers’ money without approval.
Yishawu then submitted that the House should set up an adhoc 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-occurence.
“The state government requested waivers for the importation of the buses and it was not granted.
‘The value of the buses was overrated. Some of the buses are still in the ports and they are attracting demurrage.
“N45 billion would be spent on the total purchase of the buses and we need to prevent such an occurrence in the future,” he added.
The Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa said in his submission that the House needed to prevent waste because the expenditure had 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.
“We should be the regulators of transporters; the state should not operate the buses.
“How much we are giving the buses out should be addressed. We should get the buses to the roads and save the state from further wastes,” he said.
The House subsequently set up a committee headed by Hon. Fatal Mojeed (Ibeju Lekki 1) to look into the matter and report to the House in due course.
Members of the committee, according to the Speaker included, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu; Hon. Bisi Yusuff, (Alimosho 1); Hon. Olanrewaju Afinni, (Lagos Island 2); Hon. Rasheed Makinde, (Ifako Ijaiye 2); Hon. Yinka Ogundimu, (Agege 2); and Hon. Mojisola Miranda (Apapa 1) and others.
The Speaker directed the committee to invite the Accountant General of the state, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, and others that were involved in the purchase to state what they knew about the purchase.
He also told them to invite the current Commissioner for Finance, the Managing Director of LAMATA and others.
In his contribution, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu (Agege 2) stated that the House needed to investigate every transaction that had to do with the procurement of the buses.
He added that it would become a bad precedent if the House didn’t do anything about the matter.
“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.
Also speaking, Hon. Rasheed Makinde stated that it was obvious that the last administration did a lot of misdeed in awarding contracts.
“The House rejected the proposal on the buses, yet they went on to spend N45 billion on the project.
“Since we did not approve the contract expenditure is null and void; so, the money should be refunded.
“The Account General of the State, Procurement Officer and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation must be called to speak on the matter,” he said.
In his view, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, (Shomolu 1), stressed that the provision of the 1999 Constitution in Section 120 has been flouted with the purchase.
“They told us that they wanted to start a pilot project, yet they went ahead with the project.
“Can we still wait for the vehicles to be in the port and attract demurrage?
“The incumbent governor of the state should ask for waivers from the federal government, so that we could retrieve the vehicles from the ports,” he said.
