APC defends Sanwo-olu’s N70bn Sanwo

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State chapter, has defended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s plan to splurge a whopping N69.94 billion on rehabilitation of a section of the Eti Osa/Lekki Epe Expressway.

As seen in the state’s budget estimates, the government said the reconstruction/rehabilitation/upgrade will begin from Greensprings School campus (Lekki) and terminates at the Abraham Adesanya Estate axis. Based on Google Map, the distance between the two points is 14.4km.

In addition, the government said it would spend another N7.457million on refilling fragrances that are meant to be used in the governor’s office.

Citizens have been outraged by the revelation. An opposition politician Funsho Doherty scrutinised the budget estimates and demanded explanation from the government on the items.

In his response, Seye Oladejo, the APC-Lagos publicity secretary, implied the outrage was unjustified.

“It’s money on paper, not expenditures. I don’t know why a budget proposal should cause a cry. Lagos PDP has never been in government, hence the lack of knowledge. And that is why we will not mind as a party helping the PDP to be knowledgeable on government functioning by organising a training/workshop to learn the rudiments of government,” Oladejo told the Guardian.

“There is no cash backup to the proposal, but if there’s a reason to want to commit funds to such in the future, they will.

“It’s like allocating money for an emergency, which cannot be predicted. If there’s no need to spend the money, it will just be on paper.

“It’s just a budget estimate; it is nothing anyone should lose sleep over. A lot of time, most of this budget ends up not being spent. They are estimates, it doesn’t mean money has been allotted to them.

The opposition should stop clutching at straws, elections are over.”