Heavy Taxation: Sambo Is Ignorant, Diabolical - Fashola

Babatunde Fashola

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State

Kazeem Ugbodaga

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has described Vice President Namadi Sambo’s comment that people are running away from Lagos because of heavy taxation by the state government as a display of ignorance and ‘diabolical.

Fashola, who spoke at an end of the year news conference at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Thursday said if it was true that Sambo made that statement, it was simply a display of ignorance and that such a statement should not come from someone who is the Chairman of the National Economic Council, NEC.

“I sincerely want to believe that the vice president was misquoted. If it was true, it was a display of ignorance because how did he justify the perception that people are leaving Lagos? Is the VAT collected from Lagos being reduced compared to other states?

“Is the air traffic into Lagos reducing? Or have you seen a significant reduction in Lagos traffic? Has the water demand in Lagos reduced? Or has the demand for hospital services reduced? More hotels are being built in Lagos. Companies are licensing and operating in Lagos.

“Displaced persons from other parts of the federation are moving to Lagos. It is very grave statement to make. That is why I hope he was misquoted because that is the Chairman of the National Economic Council,” he stated.

According to Fashola, “if he misunderstands what is happening in the economic capital of the country, it may be a revealing index into their understanding of the country’s economy. It may also confirm to you some of the things you heard from the president that he received contradictory advice.

Related News

“Maybe, this is part of it. That is a very dangerous statement to make. It is either ignorant or diabolical. Either way, it is not good because it tells you why the economy is not functioning if the Chairman of National Economic Council made such statement.”

The governor also wrote off the challenge posed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Lagos governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje, saying he is no threat to the All Progressive Congress, APC, governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode.

“On Jimi Agbaje, he is not a threat to us. Let’s go and check the result of the 2011 election. He got three percent of the vote cast. Even his party, we have defeated PDP in all election done them since 1999.

“Ambode is going to defeat Agbaje with your support. This is not the place to experiment; one needs a lot of experience to achieve what we have done in Lagos. When you look at what their party has done with the country, for instance, there are missing funds, non-functioning rail, epileptic power supply and others, do you want that to happen in Lagos?” He asked.

On the 2015 election, Fashola said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was not prepare for the election, which he said, led to the shoddy distribution of the Permanent Voters Card, PVC.

The governor said the real head of INEC should be a statistician and not a Professor, academics and others, saying that “it is not about theory, it is about practical. People who should also do this job should be those who have managed distribution activities in the country. It is not a judicial work but logistics.”

Load more