Former Governor of Lagos state and current minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, revealed that the works arm of his three-fold portfolio did not carry out a single capital project in 2017.
Fashola said this while appearing before a Senate committee to defend the ministry’s 2018 budget on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.
According to him this was because of the late passage of the 2017 budget.
He said, “The 2017 budget was passed in June. The procurement law requires a procurement plan which took till September,” he said.
“In following this law, the first release was in August. Most of the projects were going through procurement formalities such as tax identity, contract terms, even construction companies went on holidays. So, there were so many things.”
Kabiru Gaya, chairman of the committee, then asked for the number of projects that were not procured in 2017 since there was a rollover of projects from 2016.
Fashola was unable to proffer a satisfactory response adding that even the director of planning in the ministry could not give a definite answer.
“It is a tough task. We may be allowed to submit those details. The ending solution, which has not been found favourable, is that once you appropriate for a project in a particular budget, it should not be lined up in another year.” He said.