The concessionaire agreement between the Lagos State Government with its partner, Lekki Concession Company (LCC) has been said to have been able to yield more than a hundred percent yield over an estimated N33 million daily collected as toll on the Lekki/Epe expressway since September 18, 2011.
There are insinuations that the recent controversies of the buy-back in the concessionaire agreement between the duo arose from an attempt to cover up that the agreement has yielded more than a hundred percent Returns on Investment (ROI).
There are also accusations that there has not been a date for the termination of the tolling on the road and LCC has yet to react to the aptly to the allegations.
But the Lagos Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba denied thus: “The buy-back is not shrouded in secrecy, thus the quite detailed information such as purchase price, loan, amongst others, are already in the public domain.
He said global best practices were strictly complied with in the course of the agreement.
He added that uninformed members of the public are being misguided so he assured that “as negotiation closes more information will become available, insisting that it was not possible to shroud the transaction in secrecy.
“There is no way such a transaction involving reputable international investors, top global banks and multilateral institutional investors could be fraudulent.
Reports have it that over to 1,145 vehicles ply the road every 10 minutes. “This therefore means that 6,875 vehicles use the road every one hour, and that Lagos Government collects tolls from nothing less than 165,000 thousand vehicles every day.
“From the look of things, it is further estimated that the state government makes in about N10 billion in one month. By implication therefore, it means that from September 18, 2012 to September 18 this year, the government must have collected nothing less than N120 billion. Hence, the government is expected to have made not less than a whooping N240 billion” a report stated.
But Ibirogba said: “LASG’s investment is by way of N5 billion subordinated loan which has not been recouped and still outstanding in the books of LCC as has been reported in the public domain variously. A check on LCC’s Annual Returns Filing to CAC will affirm this position,”
There are allegations that the details of the deal remained concealed away from to the general public as the total cost of the construction of the road.
Apart from the accusation that the state government must have recouped its funds expended on the road, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State recently accused the state government of perpetrating fraud with the buy-back.
A recent statement signed by Gani Taofik, the party’s Publicity Secretary in Lagos State, stated demanded Lagos provide the details of the road stop keeping it secret, while also covering LCC.
“It is now very imperative to lift the veil of incorporation of the company (LCC) for the public to know that the company, like many others in the state, is a front for the governor and his predecessor to steal in government.
“Lagosians ought to know the terms of such contract and probably critique the absurdities that may be contained therein”, he requested.
However, the commissioner for Finance of the state, Joe Igbokwe, noted that the insinuations were part of the efforts of the PDP to discredit and distract the governor form his routine.
“Any step the hardworking governor of Lagos State takes, PDP always tries to read political meaning into it. We permit them the right to do so, but we think time has come for this dying party to stop judging us by their own standards”, Igbokwe said.