Lagos chapter of the Democratic People’s Alliance (DPA) has applauded the Lagos State Government for heeding its call to announce contract sums. But it wants the government to review its terms of engagement with Alpha-Beta Consulting Limited that collects about N2.1 billion from the state every month.
A statement by Lagos DPA Director of Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, welcomed the government’s revelation that it had paid construction giant, Julius Berger, N10 billion for work on the Ikoyi-Lekki Link Bridge and the 10-lane Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Recalling it had last week carpeted the government for keeping contract sums secret, DPA hoped the publishing of the contract costs earmarked “a new dawn of openness, transparency and accountability in government business. However, we urge the government to take the further step of opening up on the cost of other projects.”
The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Rotimi Oyekan, gave the figure last week at a press briefing, and revealed that the Lagos’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) currently stood at N14 billion monthly.
Revenue consultants to the Lagos State Government, Alpha-Beta Consulting Limited taxes the state 15 percent of Lagos’s total Internally-Generated Revenue, a practice the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has condemned as contradicting Nigeria’s fiscal statutes.
“Not only has the FIRS condemned such practices and deductions as illegal, in addition, they constitute an unwanted drainpipe on the state’s resources,” the party said.
According to the party, if the state could inject N2.1 billion every month into any sector like roads, schools, drainages, health, flood, poverty alleviation or even tourism, it would make colossal impact.
FELIX OBOAGWINA
Director of Publicity, Lagos DPA
08033327355
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