The Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode, has released a report of his activities in his first quarter ad Lagos state governor.
Governor Ambode gave his report at a town hall meeting at Abesan Primary school yesterday.
Touching on all aspects of Lagos State, his report points out the work begun by his administration as well as the projections for the next quarter.
Read the full report below :
Fellow Lagosians.
In my inaugural speech, I promised to operate a government of inclusion where, as your elected Governor, I would have regular interactions with you to discuss the plans, programmes and progress of our administration. In fulfilment of this pledge, I stand before you today to give account of our stewardship in the first quarter of this administration and to hear your thoughts on how we can jointly improve the socio-economic well-being of our people with the ultimate goal of positioning our state on the ladder of economic prosperity.
This government has decided to change from the traditional “100 Days Address” to an interactive Quarterly Report. This Quarterly Town Hall Meeting is one of the many platforms we have designed to enable us to bring government closer to our people, to enable us come together and rub minds on salient issues bordering on the overall improvement and development of our State. Just as we did during the electioneering period, we will come to you to collectively appreciate your challenges, jointly proffer solutions to them as well as identifying areas requiring government attention in the various localities in order to guide our actions.
This Quarterly Report will be rotated around the Three Senatorial districts of the State. Today we have started with the West axis in Abesan. Next quarter will be in the Central Axis of Lagos. This way, every part of the State will have an opportunity to engage with my administration.
Strategic Vision For Lagos
Our vision is to make Lagos globally competitive in all sectors. We are on the way to building a Lagos that is safe, clean and prosperous. Lagos will become a land of opportunities offering prosperity for all as we surmount the challenges.
With this vision in mind, we have set out to implement long-term plans and programmes that will lead Lagos on the path to becoming a truly competitive City-State. The results of our programmes will not become evident in the first quarter but soon enough Lagosians will feel the effects and buy into this vision.
Highlights of First Quarter
Stabilizing the Finances of The State
I am determined to be accountable for every revenue and expenditure of the State. One of our first key tasks was to stabilize the finances of the State. We embarked on a financial re-engineering and reviewed the Revenue and Expenditure framework of the State. These efforts coupled with the realignment of Ministries, Departments and Agencies have saved the government almost N3 Billion every month. This has provided us with more funds to inject into capital projects and the initial funds to establish the Employment Trust Fund which we promised our youths.
Today, a major landmark of our administration is the reduction in the cost of governance. We want a lean government with quality service delivery.
Lagos State Government is proud to declare that it has consistently met its obligations, especially prompt payment of workers’ salaries without seeking any bailout from the Federal Government
In August, this administration approved the release of N11billion for the payment of arrears of Pensions owed to pensioners since 2010. We have, on monthly basis, consistently been presenting retirees on the Contributory Pension Scheme their Bond Certificates and have also approved the appointment of Four additional Pension Fund Administrators to further boost the processes and accord staff a wider range of options.
We are presently reviewing our loans with our bankers with a view to restructuring them in order to free up funds for further infrastructural development.
Civil Service Reforms
At the onset, we promised to offer a government of Continuity with Improvement. With my knowledge of the civil service as the engine room of any government, we chose to commence this journey by repositioning the state civil service in order to make it more efficient and cost effective, with a vision of delivering better service to the citizenry. We are buildin