Lagos State, Gov. Raji Fashola and "work-chop-cracy"

As we know, a group of individuals known as the ‘Face of Lagos’ recently, through paid newspaper advertorial, accused Gov. Babatunde Fashola of financial recklessness and impropriety. Following these allegations, the Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA) in a swift response constituted a panel to investigate these allegations.


As I write, the motive of the investigation panel is still been queried by members of the public. Some have described it as the proverbial “hand of Esau and voice of Jacob”. Some consider the investigation as the first step in the plot to impeach the state governor. There are insinuations that the disagreement between the godson and godfather is because the former has not allowed the latter to have an unfettered access to the state vault. There have even been comments about why the LSHA has not probed the 8-year rule of the supposed godfather.

For me, I’m not interested in delving into the motive behind the panel investigation. As I’m not privy to the facts behind the disagreement of these individuals, I don’t think its right for me to add to the current speculations.

What I find baffling however, are the comments that Gov. Fashola should not be investigated because he is a “performing” governor (!). For such commentators, they would rather have the “Fashola type” alleged corruption, because he built new roads, implemented new public transport initiatives, cleared Oshodi and planted flowers.

The view of such people is that systemic looting of the state treasury can be justified, if the alleged culprit has performed beyond their expectations. Performance to them is a justification for treasury looting? Na Wah! You may want to ask, what their expectations are. Such individuals lack basic understanding of what is required of people they have elected into office. It’s like an employer who engaged a staff without a job description or key performance indicators. So it would be very easy for such an employee and his employer to develop a false sense of achievement. Anyway, that’s an aside issue.

Interestingly, it seems deepening rift between the Lagos State Governor Fashola and his estranged godfather Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has created a new type of governance model, which I will describe as “Work-chop-cracy”.

So what is “Work-chop-cracy”? This is a type of government that allows a leader, that is perceived to be performing well, to also engage in looting of the treasury – albeit at a lesser scale when compared to the “do nothing” leaders.

In the Work-chop-cratic government, the masses accept corruption as a way life. And as a friend noted recently, corruption in governance is regarded as second to the air we breathe under the model. The principle is, everyone elected into public office must “chop”, however the public officer must justify his chopping through “hard work and performance”. Hmmm….!

The acceptance of work-chop-cracy as a style of governance further highlights the delusion among the Nigeria masses. In the past, I’ve always been critical of the nation’s leadership and their role in encouraging corruption at levels of government. However, following some of the public comments on the alleged feud between Gov. Fashola and his predecessor, I’ve come to realise that we the masses are the biggest problem affecting Nigeria.

The question I asked the promoters of “work-chop-cracy” is, if the same allegations were raised against Gov. Alao-Akala or Gbenga Daniel, what would have been their response? Obviously, because these Governors have no track record of performance, they are always easy targets. We shout to high heavens when we hear of allegations of corruptions against those we consider as non-performing.

We are happy to see James Ibori, Lucky Igbinedion, Orji Kalu go to jail, but we are not interested in investigating allegations of corruption levelled against Fashola because we think he his performing. Such attitude smacks of hypocrisy.

If we decide not to take the allegations of corruption against Gov. Fashola seriously, what moral standing do we have to take the allegations against Gbenga Daniel seriously? Where is it written that an administrator can mismanage taxpayers’ money simply because he has implemented people-oriented projects? Is that what we define as dividends of democracy?

So what exactly is the big deal about investigating a sitting Governor? Is it not taxpayers’ money that he is been accused of misappropriating? Or may be I’m mistaking. Instead of whipping unnecessary sentiments, why not let’s focus our attention on the panel itself. Our energy should instead be directed towards urging the LSHA to conduct the investigation in a fair and transparent manner. And if they don’t, we can start making noises.

Probity, accountability and transparency are the key tenets of democratic governance. The taxpayer has the right to demand for information on how his taxes are been spent. No matter how good a governor performs, he still needs to be held accountable. After all, it’s not that he has invested his personal wealth in the development of the state.

And don’t get me wrong. I’ve not said that Gov. Fashola is guilty of the allegations. Until proven guilty, the Governor remains innocent. However, I do not support the argument that he should not be investigated because of his performance in office. Irrespective of the motive, I consider the allegations raised by the Face of Lagos group to be very serious, hence need for ‘thorough’ investigation. These allegations cannot just be swept under the carpet.

Eko o ni ba je o.......!

Gov. Fashola, DPA and Alpha-Beta Consultants

During the mid-term anniversary of Gov. Raji Fashola, Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA) Director of Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, noted that the Lagos state government has been harbouring waste in the system for paying no less than N36 billion to the Alpha-Beta Consultancy Limited from the internally-generated revenue of over N240 billion.

The need for Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has been increasingly important for state governments following recent decline in price of crude oil - which impacted significantly on revenue allocation. Prior to the global financial crisis, most State executives were fond of going to sleep for 29 days only to turn up in Abuja at the end of the month to collect their share of nation’s oil proceeds.

With regards to Lagos, Col. Buba Marwa, increased the state IGR to over N600 million from the N100 million he inherited. And by the end of the tenure of Bola Tinubu, IGR was over N10 billion. And now under the governorship of Babatunde Fashola, IGR in Lagos State is over N200 billion. The revenue collection was contracted out to private consultants Alpha-Beta under Tinubu and Fashola administration.

Whilst it is important to give credit to Ex-Governor Bola Tinubu and Gov. Raji Fashola for their innovation and efforts in increasing the state IGR, it is also important that the issues raised by DPA are not swept under the carpet. Alpha-Beta Consulting Ltd is paid 15% of the state IGR, and DPA wants the government to review its terms of engagement with consultancy firm.

I will note that engagement of consultants in the area of revenue collection did not start with Gov. Raji Fashola or his predecessor. Col. Buba Marwa contracted revenue collection to Olusola Adekanola and Co. during his administration. However, whether this practice is ‘legal’ is a matter for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

However, the issue in this matter borders on probity and accountability. If I’m a Lagos state taxpayer, I will want to know more about the "process" undertaken to engage a consultant that is paid N3 billion monthly. The questions Gov. Fashola should be asked are, why was Alpha-Beta selected as the preferred consultant? Did the government invite consultancy bids for the contract? How many consultancy companies submitted bids for the contract? Considering that Alpha-Beta has no known track record of revenue collection, what were the criteria used in selecting Alpha-Beta?

There are also rumours in certain quarters that Alpha-Beta is owned by Ex-Governor Bola Tinubu. Whilst Gov. Fashola has neither confirmed nor denied these rumours, I will note that the rumours remain unsubstantiated. If principle of ‘due process’ was adhered to, then does it really matter who owns the company?

Ex-Governor Bola Tinubu is a citizen like everyone else, and he has the right to sit on the board of private companies or engage in private business. And as far as I’m aware, there is no law in the Nigeria that precludes former political office holders from lobbying for government contracts. In fact this is a common practice in the western world because private companies believe politicians have the right contacts within the government. The issue for the government is to make sure that any percieved 'conflict of interest' is adequately addressed. So if indeed Alpha-Beta is owned by Ex-Governor Bola Tinubu, Gov.Fashola needs to let the public know that there wasn't any ‘conflict of interest’ in way and manner the contract was handled.

Considering Gov. Fashola’s good work in Lagos, and the clear evidence of phenomenal increase in IGR since his assumption of office, some will argue that Gov. Fashola does not owe anyone any explanation on the Alpha-Beta contract. My question to such people is, how are we sure that the Alpha-Beta contract provides ‘value-for-money’ to the taxpayers? Because ultimately, it’s taxpayers’ money that is been used to pay for their services. The fact that an administrator is performing well does not mean that he should not be held accountable for his actions. Alpha-Beta charges 15% of the state IGR, what makes us think that another company couldn’t have provided same service at a lower cost – say 10%? I want to agree with DPA that N36 billion is a colossal amount of money to pay an individual firm over a two-year period. And if such amount of money is channelled into any sector, it is inevitable that impact will be felt.

Whilst the payment to Alpha-Beta might be seen as a ‘waste’ by the opposition, Gov. Fashola’s response to the questions raised above might just help quell the rumours and provide a justification for such expenditure in the state budget, especially in the current economic climate.