Lagos failure to publish 2019 budget details raises concern

It's been four months since Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed the budget into law, yet LASG has refused to publish the details despite Freedom of Information (FoI) requests by Punch to the Secretary to the State Government and the House of Assembly.

Punch stated that after the budget was signed into law by the governor, it wrote the FoI request to the state government, seeking the publication of the details of the budget.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had on Monday, June 3, 2019, signed a N873.5bn budget bill into law. [Premium Times] Pulse Nigeria

The newspaper reiterated that on Monday, July 8, 2019, which was three weeks after it submitted the FoI letter requesting the budget, "one of our correspondents visited the Governor’s Office at Alausa, Ikeja, to ask for an update.

"After interrogation by officials at the security gate and stating what his mission was, the correspondent was directed to the mail office, where all correspondence are first received before being dispatched to the various offices within the premises.

"At the mail office, an official, Mr Adesupo Adedeji, said the office had not received any letter from The PUNCH requesting the budget. The official said the Secretary to the State Government’s office, where the letter was initially submitted to, had not forwarded it to the governor’s office.

"The correspondent thereafter proceeded to the SSG’s office to confirm if the letter had not been forwarded to the governor’s office.

"At the SSG’s office, the correspondent was referred to the registry, where an official insisted the letter had been sent to the governor’s office through his Chief of Staff.

"Subsequently, the correspondent returned to the mail office at the governor’s office and told Adedeji that the SSG’s office confirmed the letter had been dispatched to the governor’s office.

"Adedeji then reluctantly told the correspondent to return on Wednesday, July 10, promising to follow up on the letter and give feedback.

"When one of our correspondents returned to the mail office on July 10, Adedeji said there was no response yet from the governor regarding The PUNCH’s letter. He then asked the correspondent to check back at the office on July 17.

"A week later when the correspondent again went to the office, Adedeji said he had not received any word yet on the FoI letter from the governor. Thereafter, he asked the correspondent to write a reminder to the office," Punch stated.

Punch explained that subsequent calls and text messages to the Sanwo-Olu led administration were not responded to.

Why this matters

Transparency has been a subject of discourse for industry players in past administrations in Lagos.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), had in its 2018 Accountability Index, scored Lagos 29 percent on government transparency.

According to Punch, the state government has repeatedly ignored FoI requests, insisting that the Act only applies to Federal Government agencies, despite a judgment by a Court of Appeal last year that the Freedom of Information Act was applicable to all states in Nigeria.

It is also on record that the total amount budgeted for the upkeep of former governors Akinwunmi Ambode of the state was also ignored last year.