Fashola on ‘N78m website': I don’t fix prices
Critics of the former governor had accused him of enriching himself at the
expense of the state. And during the ministerial screening at the senate,
Fashola was asked if he truly spent N78 million on the website and more than
N300 million on sinking a borehole.
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In his response, he said he was not directly responsible for the cost of the
website.
“Some people may be surprise to learn that as governor of Lagos state, I don’t
know about other states, I didn’t sign cheques, none of my commissioners
signed cheques. I have never signed a cheque, I don’t fix contract prices, it
is an institutional process,” he said. “The only training I have is that of a
lawyer, but in order to execute works on a project, we need the input of
architects, we need the input of quantity surveyors, we need the input of
structural engineers and we have consulting ministries.
“For civil works, it’s the ministry of works, for science, it’s the ministry
of science and technology. The statisticians are there to fix prices from biro
to iron rod to cement. It is approved and it becomes the benchmark price of
government procurement; nobody can award any other contract over that
benchmark.
“In all of these things, nobody has alleged that I have corruptly enriched
myself, and I couldn’t be the master of all on technology, I need something to
do my work and you make procurement in senate, who is involved how much you
buy your stationery?”
Responding to a question relating to his concept of loyalty, Fashola said:
“May our loyalty never be tested,” and the senators chorused “Amen!”
He went on to shed more light on his understanding of loyalty, using a story
to drive home his point. “The concept of loyalty is very strange. You know why
I say so? In the course of my work, there was a family that had a patient who
had a kidney malfunction and she needed a transplant and was to go overseas.
We had procedures in government where we helped people who applied to get
overseas treatment,” he said.
“When we had paid and they were to go, the question was, who will be the
donor? We found out that the only matching kidneys were those of her two
daughters and none of them was willing to give a kidney for their mother, that
was their supreme test of loyalty. “So, I always pray that my loyalty will not
be tested, because you do not know, you may have to take a bullet for
somebody, it may even be a father for a child.
“In public life, I have remained loyal to courses that I signed on to and all
my life, really, nobody can fairly accused me of giving my word and going back
on it.”
Source:
The Cable
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