Assembly approves Sanwo-Olu’s N4.4bn request to purchase vehicles

The Lagos State House of Assembly has approved the request of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for 4.4bn to procure 335 vehicles for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The assembly accepted the approval via a voice vote managed by the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, in Lagos on Thursday.

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu

The House, on Monday, declared that it had received a letter from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget.

The ministry was seeking endorsement to expend from the special expenditure to purchase vehicles for official use by officials of the MDAs to boost the service effectively.

Obasa further submitted the request to the House Committee on Economic Planning and Budget chaired by Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti Osa II), and the committee was stated to report to the House on Thursday.

The speaker, on Thursday, during plenary clarified that 355 vehicles were endorsed out of the 916 required for different government officials.

Handing over the report, Yishawu stated that the committee called on the state’s Head of Service (HOS), Mr Hakeem Muri-Okunola, in regard of the request.

The lawmaker further said that the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs Abiola Liadi, among others to defend the request.

He said, “The committee discovered that state government actually needed about 1,006 for its officials, but that the governor approved only 355 due to shortage of fund.

“The expenditure was to be financed from the Special Expenditure Votes of the 2021 Appropriation Law.

“The committee also advised the officials of the state government to include purchase of vehicles for government officials in subsequent budgets rather than requesting for purchase of vehicles from special expenditure votes.”