By Segun Balogun

June 21, 2011 01:44AM


The recently inaugurated seventh Lagos State House of Assembly, in its very first sitting on Monday, approved the purchase of 10 Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) for N700 million, as a response to the security alert that gripped the nation in the wake of a recent bomb explosion at the Police Headquarters in Abuja.

The purchase was approved, following a request for it by the executive government, which sent a letter, signed by the permanent secretary of the state's ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Bayo Sodade.

However, the approval came by virtue of a veto, by the Speaker of the House, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, against majority of the lawmakers' decision that the fund for the purchase should not be taken from the local government intervention fund, as the letter requested.

Many of the lawmakers had argued that the fund could easily have been drawn from the statutorily appropriate coffers of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.

The local intervention fund, as many of them argued, is meant for the execution of constituency projects to be nominated by each of the lawmakers, and therefore, not appropriate for funding security needs.

"We should not overlook the usefulness of this fund because if we do, it would affect other projects in our various constituencies," said Mudashiru Obasa (Agege constituency).

Mr Obasa said the "essence of local government intervention fund is for each member of the House to nominate projects in his constituencies to be handled and executed."

Ipoola Omisore, who is representing the Ifako/Ijaiye constituency,expressed suspicion on the ground that the request letter was not properly addressed.

"The letter was personalised and it was not conveyed using the Ministry's letter-head paper," he said, urging the House "to look critically into the request" especially because there is Lagos State Security Trust Fund from which such amount could be taken.

Several other lawmakers, including Dayo Fafunmi, Funmilayo Tejuosho, Bisi Yusuf, Rotimi Olowo, and Bayo Oshinowo, also rejected the request, claiming "the letter has no substance".

The Veto

However, Mr Ikuforiji, said the lawmakers should see the requested money as a "donation by the state government to the police for the safety of the state".

"We bought about ten of this kind last year and you know that for a place of our size, we need a substantial number of them for the security of the 18 million Lagosians," he said.

"If the amount in the fund is about N19.3 billion, a total of N700 million is not too much," Mr Ikuforiji said. "This is the first request from them and since we have agreed that we would collaborate with the executive, let us just approve this. We all need it and we know what security means to the nation right now."

The deputy speaker, Kolawole Taiwo, urged the lawmakers to consider the request as the local government intervention fund is the only hope of the government to source funds for the purchase.

According to him, the State Tenders Board had earlier refused to approve similar request asking that the request be funded from budgetary allocation.

"That was why the Permanent Secretary wrote to us," he said.

Other lawmakers who supported the approval were Olawale Oshun and Wahab Alawiye-King.