LAGOS – The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode says his administration has been able to reduce the cost of governance by N9 billion in the last three months through the re-alignment of the state’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs and restructuring of government.
Ambode spoke at the first edition of the Quarterly Town Hall Meeting at Abesan Estate, Alimosho area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday where he rendered the account of stewardship since he took over power on 29 May, 2015.
Addressing the thousands of participants drawn from Lagos West Senatorial District, the governor said he was determined to be accountable for every revenue and expenditure of the state.
He said one of his administration’s first key tasks was to stabilize the finances of the State which made it embarked on a financial re-engineering and reviewed the revenue and expenditure framework of the State.
Ambode disclosed that these efforts, coupled with the realignment of MDAs had saved the government almost N3 billion every month since June, making it a cumulative N9 billion for the last three months since he took over power.
“This has provided us with more funds to inject into capital projects and the initial funds to establish the Employment Trust Fund which we promised our youths. Today, a major landmark of our administration is the reduction in the cost of governance. We want a lean government with quality service delivery.
“Lagos State Government is proud to declare that it has consistently met its obligations, especially prompt payment of workers’ salaries without seeking any bailout from the Federal Government,” he said.
The governor said in August, his administration approved the release of N11 billion for the payment of arrears of Pensions owed to pensioners since 2010, saying that his government had, on monthly basis, consistently been presenting retirees on the Contributory Pension Scheme their bond certificates and had also approved the appointment of four additional Pension Fund Administrators to further boost the processes and accord staff a wider range of options.
“We are presently reviewing our loans with our bankers with a view to restructuring them in order to free up funds for further infrastructural development,” he added.
In the area of health, Ambode said his government had provided 20 Mobile Intensive Care Unit ambulances at a cost of N145.240 million deployed in all the state’s ambulance points, bringing it to a total of 36 Mobile Intensive Care Unit ambulances.
“We have also provided additional 26 Transport Ambulances at the cost of N257.4 million deployed across all our General Hospitals. We have created Ambulance Points across the States for easy access to our people. The ambulance service can be reached by calling the Toll-Free Line 112.
