18th January, 2013
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has disclosed that the ongoing construction of the Blue Line of the Light Rail project will gulp N158 billion ($1 billion).
Fashola said this on Thursday at the 6th Lagos State Taxation Stakeholders’ Conference, held at the Haven, Oba Akinjobi Street in Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
The governor further disclosed that the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway would gulp N100 billion.
According to him, it was part of the borrowed fund that government was using in constructing the light rail project and the Lagos-Badagry expressway, which are projects that would take the state to another level.
The governor stated that there was no way the state could scale up infrastructural development without incurring debt, saying that the United States of America had a debt profile of $16 trillion, while the debt profile of Dubai was also high, adding that despite these people continued to flock to these places because of infrastructural development.
“The debate is not whether we should borrow, but what we are doing with the money,” he said, adding that the state government had continued to run deficit budget to cater for infrastructural development through borrowing, but noted that government was gradually cutting down on its borrowing.
“Our deficit has gone down from N79 billion in 2011 to N66 billion in 2012 and N42 billion in 2013. While our population has continued to grow, only few people pay taxes. Three million out of the eight million people working in the state pay their taxes, which mean that three million people sustain a population of over 20 million.
“We have been advocating voluntary compliance but some people are certainly tax evaders; we will collect the money by enforcement. Tax evaders will meet us in the court. We have to ensure that the remaining five million people not paying tax join the rest in paying,” Fashola stated.
Fashola, however, said his government was ready to meet the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in court over the party’s plan to stop the Security Trust Fund, STF, from operating.
Fashola said he heard that the PDP was planning to sue the state government in a bid to stop the existence of the STF.
“I heard that PDP wants to sue the Lagos State Government to stop the Security Trust Fund from functioning. The fund is an outfit set up on voluntary donations, to help discharge the obligation which their party has to the police which they have failed to discharge.
“I have news for them; they should make my day because we will meet them in court. I think they are getting closer to dance naked in the public. This is because the welfare and the provision of other basic equipment to the police is their responsibility,” he stated.
According to the governor, the PDP “budgets money every year for security but policemen cannot buy uniforms. They do not have vehicles for patrol. They do not have fuel to power existing vehicles.
“A government sits down here, creates innovative ideas on how to fund the police in its state, the problem that is not its responsibility. We go to our citizens to plead for funds for the police that are not controlled by the state government all in the interest to protect the lives of its citizens.”
The governor, who was pained by the ungratefulness of the government at the centre, added that “in order to keep the police up to date with their responsibilities, we provided uniforms, boots, patrol vehicles and bikes; distribute guns to the police officers. Rather than commend the government, the only thing you could do is to oppose such innovative idea, then it shows that you are truly opposite people according to the late Fela’s music.”
Fashola noted that this sense of impunity was just outrageous, saying “our government was responsible for the reconstruction of the Area C command when it was razed. We did it with the taxes paid by the residents of the state and the donation from the Security Trust Fund.”
The governor also disclosed that the government had begun the issuance of the new Electronic Certificate of Occupancy, e-C of O to land owners, saying that the new document would replace the age-long C of O that is susceptible to forging.
“We intend to move from the Yellow paper to a new one that is difficult to forge. The role of the government is to stay ahead of the forgers. We have started producing backlog of e-C of O.
On taxes, Fashola stated that there was no way government could achieve development of the state without taxing the citizens, stressing that “a life without taxes is impossible. All what we have done in the last six years was made possible by taxes.
“If they shut down the tap of oil today, Lagos State is the only state that will survive. Close to 70 percent of what we spent is generated internally. Since I became governor, I have never passed any law on taxation; I only implement the tax laws that are already passed.”
On complaint of illegal charges by local governments, Fashola urged Lagosians to resist paying any fee not in the harmonised approved list of payment as levies.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga