The Lagos State Government on Monday took a swipe at President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo, for “ running a presidency without any legacy.”

This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the state on Information and Strategy, Dr. Lateef Raji, which was issued in reaction to a comment credited to the vice-president last week.

The vice-president had last week remarked that the residents of the state “are leaving for neighbouring states in droves as a consequence of heavy tax regime” imposed by the state government.

But the statement noted that history would not forgive both Jonathan and Sambo for running a full course of four-year presidency without any legacy, citing diverse economic and security crises Nigeria had been facing under the Jonathan administration.

It said: “If they lack the capacity to contend with other complex challenges confronting the country, they do not have to be geniuses to plant a block of classroom or a paediatric ward in each of Nigeria’s public primary schools or general hospitals in the remaining five months of their tenure to at least appease yet impressionable children.”

The statement defended the state’s tax regime, which it said had positioned the state as “the economic and social hub of not just Nigeria, but West Africa and which continues to attract an inflow of people like the bee to the honey, in pursuit of their means of livelihood daily. 

“It is no surprise at all that the steadfastness that the state government has brought to the management of its internally generated revenue and the attendant improved and consistent performance over the years will continue to be mind boggling for all those who do not appreciate the need to move from the past and adopt innovations in order to improve the lot of the society.

“For whatever it is worth, Sambo deserves to be pitied. If his itinerary coming on this trip in an election year had included the inspection, not even commissioning, of any ongoing ambitious projects initiated for the good of the people of the state, he may have been better preoccupied and avoided the gaffe.

“It will be good to share with him and his fellows a simple narrative of what was done differently in Lagos State. It is never too late to learn. The state government had for long realised that the state, with its enormous social and economic
potentials, cannot continue to depend on the allocation from the Federation Accounts if it must deliver on the popular expectations.”

The statement urged the presidency to lesson from the measures, which it said, were then introduced “to drive efficiency in the tax assessment and collection regimes by effectively plugging loopholes and leakages in the system. The result was the leap in the accruable to the coffers of the state government.

“With this enhanced revenue profile, the government embarked on ambitious infrastructure upgrade to meet the critical areas of need like never experienced before. At any given time, not less than 200 roads, not leaving out those of the federal government, are being executed.

“The state government is not just doing it on the tube and the press; the testimonials abound all over the state for the people to see, feel and put to use. Without doubt, Sambo himself would have, during this visit, marvelled at the new look of Lagos even if he moved around all of his time in the city flying in a helicopter.”

The statement urged the federal government to learn lessons from the state’s tax efficiency, which it said, could help bring the country from her myriad of socio-economic challenges she had been facing.

It added that if the presidency could summon the will power to rein in its members and ensure that oil receipts and accruals from other revenue heads “are properly accounted for and remitted to the Federation Accounts, Nigeria will be better and the citizens will be happy.

“If the federal government had avoided situations where individuals present claims in billions of hard-earned money spent on hotel accommodation, air travels and all other such excesses in diversion of public funds, the Nigerian economy would not be in the sorry state it is today and we would all have been better for it. Nigerians would have been better secured and the people would feel the presence of
government even in the remotest part of the country.”

Source:
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lasg-jonathan-sambo-running-presidency-without-legacy/197973/

THEY STILL NOT DEFEND WHAT VP SAMBO SAID.
IN LAGOS STATE, THEY OVER TAX THE PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES WHICH HAVE RESULTED IN CLOSURE OF MANY BUSSINESES IN LAGOS.

MANY BUSSINESES ARE BEEN RELOCATED TO AKWAIBOM, ONITSHA AND ENUGU NOW.