Lagos PDP scores Ambode’s administration low in performance

THE Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the performance of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. The party described the governor’s achievements in office in the first 100 days as dismal and projected to continue with unclear policies.

In a statement yesterday, the state PDP spokesman, Taofik Gani, said rather than projecting its administration as a performer, Ambode should disclose the true state of Lagos finances as he met it on May 29, saying: “There is no doubt the governor is overwhelmed by the debt he discovered and inherited from the immediate past governor, Babatunde Fashola, which is one of the reasons he has not been able to form cabinet.”

However, one of the chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tunde Temionu, said it is illogical to say Ambode’s administration has not performed or that his delay in forming cabinet has to do with whatever anybody is speculating about the way Fashola ran his government.

Giving reason why it deliberately delayed its comment on Ambode’s performance in the last 100 days, the party claimed it was to allow it gather adequate public opinion, which eventually scored the administration low.

The PDP said rather than Ambode to expose what he found and apologise to the people of Lagos, “the governor has chosen to be deliberately indifferent in order to shield the APC as a failed party in the state.

Thus putting the interest of his party above the general interest of the electorate. “The PDP thus put the governor on the spot to take the bull by the horns and manifest competent leadership, otherwise he should throw in the towel.”

According to the party, “The examples of lack of cabinet; Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and introduction of Treasury Single Account; Lagos Traffic Management Authority’s (LASTMA) operations; the Lagos State University (LASU) crisis; delay in local council elections; unclear salaries and wages for civil servants; human rights abuses among others continue to linger even when they can be resolved within his 100 days in office.

For sake of clarity, it is our opinion that the actual revenue generated by the state can never be known as long as the process continues to be in the hands of private tax firms instead of absolute control of government.

Indeed the participation of Alpha Beta Tax firm in the collection of revenue for the state ought to be reviewed. “The firm has become the state’s finance department.

This is maladministration and Governor Ambode should stop the Apha Beta Services in order to achieve the TSA policy.”

Temionu, however said that Ambode being a seasoned administrator and astute accountant general is taking his time to build on the solid foundation the APC has succeeded in laying in Lagos over the years and if there is any reason for him to intimate the people of Lagos about anything that is most likely to impinge on his performances “he would not hesitate to do so.”

He also defended Ambode on the cabinet delay, saying that the governor should not be rushed but be allowed to choose the best personalities that would assist him in developing Lagos.