Richard Akinnola

By Richard Akinnola

Many residents of Lagos should have noticed that governance has literally halted. Hospitals can’t procure drugs or embark on any capital projects, most street lights are off at night because no money to procure diesel, many civil servants can’t work or are mostly out of offices because no electricity and no money for diesel. I can go on and on.

And guess what? The problem is not about Governor Akinwunmi Ambode but the House of Assembly. The House of Assembly which initially claimed that Governor Ambode refused to present the budget and wanted to use that as an excuse to impeach him, when in actual fact, the Commissioner for Budget laid the budget before the House in December.

After the impeachment face-off, the governor personally presented the budget on February 1. The House left the budget in the cooler and went for electioneering campaigns. The House made it look that it urgently wanted to pass the budget when they made it an impeachment issue. It resumed from the election recess on April 4. This is going to mid-April and the House doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to pass the budget, apparently to deny Ambode any major expenditure before his exit. But in practical terms, it is Lagosians that are victims of this collateral damage of political fued.

This is no time for pro or anti Ambode sentiments because Ambode is not personally affected but we Lagosians are reeling under this seeming stoppage of practical governance in Lagos. Deep craters on the roads everywhere, many highway streetlights off at night, subvention to the security agents is threatened. Things cannot continue like this. This is politics taken too far. The House of Assembly must pass the budget immediately.