8th April, 2015
One governorship race which is a must watch and is likely to go to the wire is the Lagos gubernatorial contest. Clearly as was the case in the presidential race there are 2 frontrunners in this contest (no disrespect to the other participants) but with the weight of rallies, electoral crusades, radio, TV jingles and advertising messages has centred around the APC and PDP candidates. The electorate has been inundated with great and weighty promises which Lagosians shall use as basis to elect their governor come April 11, 2015.
Sadly though as elite as Lagosians are, and especially those who work for the Lagos State Government(LASG) are; and following personal interaction with quite a number of them it is surprising that though they have a right to vote any candidate of their choice it is disappointing that some LASG workers have chosen to be “financially sentimental” in their choice of governor. In my interactions I’ve heard things like “yes o we will vote for change in Lagos”, “we’ve been paying too much taxes in the last eight years”; “the financial obligations are too much, it is when they came that the states finance record were computerised”
While making enquiries as to how these accusations are possible many Lagos workers put the blame on what they described as their “financial burden” on the APCs gubernatorial aspirant Akinwunmi Ambode who in many quarters is believed and credited to have been a key part of the team that turned Lagos into a tax paying but financially stable state and as it is with every new idea there would be antagonists and protagonists alike.
This brings us to the arguments and counterarguments as to how an Amobode candidature or election victory would further plunge Lagos and her citizens into the hands of the architect of tax deductions across all classes of people. So there is the argument that should he win it would be a victory that would pile pressure on Lagosians.
A critical analysis of this pessimism brought me to conclude that man in his natural state never wants anything that affects them but they want everything to be effective to/for them. The average man wants the state to work in his favour but the question is where does the state get its resources from. It is arguable that because of our peculiar government style where the central government gives monthly revenue which it gets from basically the sale of her most precious product; crude oil.
The over dependence on crude oil has since driven our nation to be totally dependent on oil proceeds and our state governments almost have ran out of ideas as to the best ways to get their states working without FG support. A case in point is the recent slide in global crude oil prices and many states in Nigeria couldn’t meet workers salaries.
It was at such critical time when the Lagos State government under Governor Bola Tinubu was at crossroads with the FG over the creation of more local government as well as its funding that the governor turned his attention to Internal Revenue Generation which eventually brought taxes, levies among others into full fore and also played up a certain Akinwunmi Ambode who at that time was a key figure in the states finance ministry.
What some Lagos workers and Lagosians don’t seem to speak about or simply don’t understand is that but for the “financial burden” placed on them by Mr Ambode and the team that was used to revamp Lagos Tax and Financial principles, they wouldn’t have been able get their salaries regularly and consistently even as stated earlier when their LG funds were withheld by the FG; not even the LG staff in Lagos were owed salaries while the impasse lasted.
Till date Lagos has paid workers salaries judiciously and part of the credit goes to Akinwunmi Ambode for ensuring that civil service workers got their salaries before each months end and not after as it was the norm with many other states.
To the credit of the financial team Governor Tinubu raised which Ambode belonged to the LASG was and has been diligently providing Free Medical service(s) to children in government hospitals, pregnant women got top of the class medical services at all the Child & Maternity Centres across the state, Emergency Centres have been built in key areas to attend to medical emergencies, ambulance services are available 24hrs for transporting emergencies; all these are made possible by tax payers monies which may be inconvenient but every other Lagosian has access to these facilities.
The uncanny zeal with which the LASG from Governor Tinubu to Governor Babatunde Fashola have aggressively made infrastructural development a key reference point is uncontestable in Nigeria virtually every Lagosian has enjoyed and can testify to the many projects of roads, parks, gardens, schools among other benefits that tax paying has added not only to Lagos workers but to Lagosians generally; and all these are possible because of the vision and bravery of a governor to put round pegs in round holes and put a team which comprised goal getters like Governor Fashola and Akin Ambode who is now contesting for the coveted Lagos governorship seat.
If introducing e-payment systems and platforms for monthly salaries which made it impossible for workers salaries to be stolen at will, a platform which eradicated and made “Ghost workers” an impossibility, a system which brought about better payments of gratuities and pension by creating adequate filters to curb corruption and fraud, giving access therefore to workers who have served the state over the years get what rightfully belongs to them as it is due then Akinwunmi Ambode deserves credit from Lagos workers and Lagosians for all these many visionary policies and should be given 100% support by voting for him come April 11th, 2015.
To have reached the enviable position of Permanent secretary in the Finance Ministry in 2005 and given the additional responsibility of Accountant General in 2006 speaks volumes of his experience, expertise and abilities of how to take Lagos to the next level.
Today, Lagos state civil servants can walk up to embassies and get visas without having to forge their financial statements or tax payment records because the system has made it readily available.
Finally I daresay that when we ask for change we should do it as a means of craving for something much better than what we have already but not craving for what is better to be made worse. A scholar once said “change in essence is progressive not retrogressive” and Akin Ambode can bring that continued progressive change.
By Babatunde Bisuga, a political analyst and social commentator
Twitter: @tunepas