The Lagos State Government Tuesday put its total debt stock at a whopping value of N435 billion, which it said, covered the profile of four tranches of bond it used between 2009 and 2013 as well as funds from other internal and external sources.

The state government also listed diverse constraints, which it said, were undermining the implementation of the Fourth Mainland Bridge covering a distance of eight kilometres different from the road project of about 22 kilometres along the state corridor.

But the state’s debt profile was publicly disclosed yesterday during the 2014 budget analysis, which its Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze presented along with his counterparts in the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and that of Finance, Mr. Ayodeji Gbeleyi among others.

At the budget analysis that attracted enlightened stakeholders from the public sector and the media, the finance commissioner gave an explicit detail of the state’s debt profile, which he said, stood at a total value of N435 billion.

Gbeleyi, who spoke towards the end of the programme, disclosed that with regard “to our total debt stock today, we have about N435 billion, which is a net of N98 billion in sinking fund,” though the debt was sustainable.

He said the state government “has a total of four tranches of bond it issued. The first one is N50 billion for five year tenure issued in 2009 and will mature in 2014. The second tranche is N57.5 billion issued in 2010. It is a seven-year bond and will mature in 2017.”

He also put the third tranche at a value of N80 billion, which he said, was issued “in 2012. It will mature in 2019. The last tranche of bond is N87.5 billion issued in 2013. It has a tenure of seven years and will mature in 2020.”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lagos-incurs-n435bn-debt-in-five-years/169996/

[size=14pt]Lagos owes $1bn of states’ $3bn external debts[/size]- Punch newspaper

The Lagos State Government owes 33.86 per cent of the country’s total sub-national external debts (debts owed by state governments), investigation has shown.

Statistics obtained from the website of the Debt Management Office in Abuja on Wednesday showed that out of the total external debt of $3.01bn, Lagos State owed $1.02bn, leaving the remaining 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory with $1.99bn as of June 30, 2014.

Further analysis shows that out of the $1.02bn external loan commitments, $937.91m was from multilateral bodies, while $82.5m represented loans contracted from bilateral sources.

With a series of loan deals, the World Bank in particular has been involved in the urban renewal programme of Lagos State as well as efforts to reform the policy environment.

Some of the latest approvals by the World Bank for the state include $42m loan deal approved by its Board of Executive Directors in March to support secondary education programme in the state.
http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-owes-1bn-of-states-3bn-external-debts/

Lagos is running on borrowed funds, So much for the noise about lagos IGR, How can a govt borrow that much money in just 5yrs excluding the external debt. lagos huge IGR will just be spent in servicing debt.

notobs:
Lagos is running on borrowed funds, So much for the noise about lagos IGR, How can a govt borrow that much money in just 5yrs excluding the external debt. lagos huge IGR will just be spent in servicing debt.

The N435bn debt is just the debt that lagos state govt. admits it owes, but we all know they owe far more than that the Nigerian bureau of Statistics puts lagos external debt at :

This is outrageous! how can a sensible government borrow N435bn within just 5 years, at this rate of borrowing, fashola will leave lagos with a trillion debt at the end of his 8yrs in office.

notobs:
This is outrageous! how can a sensible government borrow N435bn within just 5 years, at this rate of borrowing, fashola will leave lagos with a trillion debt at the end of his 8yrs in office.

I have been saying this about lagos for a long time on the pages of nairaland. Lagos state is responsible for about half of the external debt owed by all the 36 states in this country? How can one state borrow more money than 35 states in Nigeria, This will surely comeback to hunt the state. and yet people are proping up Fashola for planting flowers in lagos with borrowed money.

LOL

Lagos state runs the most corrupt government in Nigeria, It is one of the very few states that has refused to adopt the freedom of information act, in Nigeria. Which keeps Nigerians in the dark as to how government spends its funds.

If lagos state had nothing to hide then why is it hiding its financial record from the public? dont the tax payers have the right to know how their hard earned tax revenue is spent?

Lagosians dont know what and how fashola is spending, the tax funds, could this be because of the huge debt profile of the state?
Could it be because of the huge fraud that is taking place in lagos? Is fashola just sharing lagos funds with tinubu his godfather?

LWKMD

Lagos has a lot of financial impropriety to hide from the public, Thats why the state govt. is hiding form (FOI), Only fraudsters fail to publish its financial records!

If Lagos was a business, who would invest in a business who's Financial records are kept secret?

Lagos debt compared to the 5 top most indebted states in Nigeria:

1).Lagos State debt as at 30th june, 2014 .....................................$1,020,410,674.11
2).Kaduna State " ".........................................$245,510,669.07
3).Cross River State " ".........................................$120,212,331.65
4).Ogun State " ".........................................$116,689,249.43
5).Bauchi State ".........................................$111,607,175.28
6).Oyo State " ".......................................... $80,112,084.14

SOURCE:NBC http://www.dmo.gov.ng/

And all of you (above commentators) are part of the youths that hope to lead this country someday?
You need to learn some critical thinking and cease your naive, sentiment driven populist thinking. The USA is about the most indebted nation in the world yet she's 2nd largest economy; and that not just based on GDP.

Any government waiting for money from some IGR and some statutory allocation could not have achieved the level of infrastructural development in Lagos in the last few years

This has got to be a world record.

Mowire:
And all of you (above commentators) are part of the youths that hope to lead this country someday?
You need to learn some critical thinking and cease your naive, sentiment driven populist thinking. The USA is about the most indebted nation in the world yet she's 2nd largest economy; and that not just based on GDP.

Any government waiting for money from some IGR and some statutory allocation could not have achieved the level of infrastructural development in Lagos in the last few years

How can a govt. live on borrowed money? you cannot borrow your way out of a financial problem, debt might sustain you for a while but it will catch up to you in The long run? Case in point Ekiti State under fayemi, borrowed so much money to invest in infrastructures such as N50million Bed for the governors mansion, and today the incomming governor meet a broke state and is struggling to pay even salaries.

The debt that fashola is incurring for Lagos state will be an albatross for the next government.

Corruption is alive and well in Lagos, i will not be surprised if lagos state debt tripples before fashola leaves office, afterall the only way he can keep sponsoring APC, Is to borrow more.

[size=16pt]EXCLUSIVE: Audit exposes massive corruption in Lagos local councils; indicts officials for squandering millions
[/size]
A government audit of 57 local councils in Lagos State has indicted eight, accusing their officials of squandering at least N224 million of public funds on a range of questionable expenditure and unimplemented contracts.
The 2012 audit report covers the state’s Local Government Areas, LGAs, created and recognised by the Nigerian government, as well as Local Development Council Administration, LCDAs, created by the Lagos State government, but not recognised by the federal government.
Those accused of wasting public funds are Agbado Oke-odo, Surulere, Coker-Aguda, Egbe-Idumu, Eredo, Iba, Ikosi-Isheri, and Lagos Island East.
The audit assessment, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, accused officials of the affected local authorities of “financial recklessness”, and blamed them for wasteful spending.
The report also criticised another set of eight local government areas of piling up debts and failing to meet targeted revenue projections.
The LCDAs in this category are Eti-Osa East, Ikoyi-Obalende, Iru-Victoria Island, Yaba, and Agabo-Oke LCDAs.
The LGAs are Eti-Osa, Lagos Mainland, Somolu.
Together, the eight councils accounted for N788.3 million in debt, and fell short of the projected N831.5 million self-generated revenue, the report states.
The respective debt profiles of each council were listed as Eti-Osa East N23.7m; Eti-Osa N52m; Ikoyi-Obalende N220.3m, and Iru Victoria Island N50m.
Others are Lagos Mainland N163.8m; Yaba N51.2m; Somolu N147.5m and Agbado Oke-Odo N79.6m.
Unaccounted funds
The report highlights a series of disturbing spending and practices which the auditors said cost the 16 councils an “unquantifiable financial shortfalls that could have been used for development projects at the grassroots”.
In Agbado Oke-Odo for instance, officials paid out N11.5m as personal advance for staff of the council since 2010 but failed to deduct the payments from salaries of the beneficiaries.
Also, the council failed to remit statutory deductions from contracts awarded to the tune of N40.9m.
In Surulere, auditors found that N17.5 m, as against the agreed N12.8m, which was 30 percent of the mobilization sum, was paid to a contractor for the installation of a Colour Led Display solution screen at Masha Road, Lagos State Water Corporation Junction in Surulere Even so, “the project has not taken off since February 2011 when the agreement was signed”, the report stated.
Tajudeen Ajide, the Chairman of Surulere Local Government, told PREMIUM TIMES that the allegations were false.
To prove his innocence, he presented documents and video clips showing that the Colour Led Display solution Screen project actually kicked off, but was stopped by the Lagos State Advertising Agency, LASSA, which refused to grant approval for the installation of the screen.
Mr. Ajide took a PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter to the proposed site of the Colour Led Display solution Screen project at Masha Roundabout, Surulere, where work was yet to commence.
“The Led Display solution screen actually kicked off but the state advertising regulatory agency refused to approve the locations we offered, the stadium junction and the roundabout at Masha, even after the state government approved the project,” he said. “And this project would have boosted our revenue generation which I had planned to use to put into education, and some key areas of the society.”
The council boss however did not explain why N‎‎17.5 million was paid instead of N12.8 million, the stipulated 30 per cent mobilization fee.
Other local areas too
At Coker-Aguda LCDA, “spurious expenditure” totalling N1.3m was made by staff on behalf of the Local Council, the report said.
“The payment appeared spurious because the minutes of the meetings were not provided to the audit team and pictorial evidence of performance was not attached to the payment vouchers,” it stated.
A total of N29.1 m was unaccounted for in Egbe-Idimu LCDA.
“Expenditure Not Accounted For: Audit examination of the payment vouchers revealed that the sum of N10.0m paid to various officers of the Local Council for sundry expenses was not accounted for,” the report said.
“Audit examination of the payment vouchers during the period under review revealed that the twenty-one payment vouchers totalling N12, 652,000.00 were doubtful and unreasonable.
“Payments for Jobs not Executed Audit examination of payment vouchers showed that the sum of N6, 500,000.00 was expended on spreading of loose laterite and stabilization of roads during the period under review. Further inspection to the site revealed that these projects were not executed.
“Unpresented Payment Vouchers: Five payment vouchers totalling N10, 200,000.00 duly posted in the Combined Cashbook were not produced for audit examination”.
Also, officials of the Eredo LCDA made unauthorized excess expenditure totalling N15m in 2012, just as 52 payment vouchers amounting to N30.2m and duly paid and posted in the treasury cashbook, were not produced for audit verification.
Officials of Iba LCDA were also indicted for overpayment of security allowance to the chairman by N2million in 2012.
Ramat Oseni-Adeyeri, the chairperson of Iba LCDA, dismissed the claims against her and other officials.
“It’s a fallacy,” she told PREMIUM TIMES.
At Ikosi-Isheri LCDA, the audit report noted an irregular auto loan facility to the tune of N100m from Fidelity Bank Plc for the purchase of vehicles for various functionaries of the Local Council.
The transaction was observed to be fraught with various irregularities such as lack of proper documentation.
An audit of Lagos Island East LCDA also revealed expenditure not accounted for to the tune of N6.3million.
The council chairmen of Eti-Osa LGA, Iru Victoria Island LCDA and Surulere LGA ‎ responded to PREMIUM TIMES inquiry.
‎Yisa Owolabi, the chairman of Eti-Osa East LCDA denied being in debt.
“The council took a facility of N100 m that year on capital project with d approval of the state government and as we speak we will finish servicing it by the end of next month. We are among the most prudent council,” Mr. Owolabi said.
Also, Abayomi Daramola, the chairman of Iru-Victoria island LCDA said he was sure his council remitted all tax deductions.
“We are not in any debt neither did we not remit any statutory tax deductions. I’m very sure,” he said.
The chairpersons of other indicted local government/councils did not respond to our requests for comments.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/investigationspecial-reports/169586-exclusive-audit-exposes-massive-corruption-in-lagos-local-councils-indicts-officials-for-squandering-millions.html

^^^^ the above is what happens when there is a corrupt boss!

Its the taxpayers that will suffer in Lagos , because the state government will pass on the debt burden to them. With N43billion naira a month revenue, Lagos has no business borrowing money. Lagos is the richest state in Nigeria.

Lagos state government spent N160bn World bank loan to provide non functional street lights in lagos state! a whooping N160bn not me saying it here read fasholas account on how he spent the world bank loan http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/10/lagos-spent-n160-bn-world-bank-loan-fashola/

This is the height of irresponsibility by Gov. fashola N160b world bank loan on streetlights.

with all the igr noise

Lagos is the most indebted state in Nigeria. FACT!

Mowire:
And all of you (above commentators) are part of the youths that hope to lead this country someday?
You need to learn some critical thinking and cease your naive, sentiment driven populist thinking. The USA is about the most indebted nation in the world yet she's 2nd largest economy; and that not just based on GDP.

Any government waiting for money from some IGR and some statutory allocation could not have achieved the level of infrastructural development in Lagos in the last few years

Very poor of u. U lack the very basic knowledge of economics.

hayokunleoni:

Very poor of u. U lack the very basic knowledge of economics.

Thanks.

[size=28pt]APC wahala[/size]

eaglechild:
This has got to be a world record.

you are an ingrate.
Tinubu no go sop?
This is even too small.
The next governor has to leverage better to show appreciation to jagaban!

tit:


you are an ingrate.
Tinubu no go sop?
This is even too small.
The next governor has to leverage better to show appreciation to jagaban!

Lol