Armed with the belief that the cost of governance can be reduced if frivolities are cut, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has revealed that neither he nor anyone in his cabinet had purchase personal or official vehicles with taxpayers’ money since they assumed office.
He made this revelation on Thursday, in his address at the 22nd Annual Tax Conference, on the theme ‘Taxation and Economic Competitiveness: Imperatives for National Development’.
While harping on the need to reduce the cost of governance, Sanwo-Olu said: “We need to look at the expenditure of our state.
“As the Chief Executive of our state, I ask myself where can I cut the excesses from?
“What can I do away with in order to increase the revenue of our state, and make available a lot of money for my state for them to do well?”
Sawo-Olu added: “So what have I done, and this is the first time I will be saying this publicly, I have not purchased a single official vehicle for myself or any of my direct staff, or any of my family members since I became the governor.
“So if you see me have a convoy of 10 vehicles, what you are seeing are all vehicles that I have been using since my campaign time.
“And because we are in Lagos, being your governor, I have also been opportuned to receive two or three brand new cars from very highly-spirited Lagosians.
“So I said to my people that it is not a practical thing that any governor would want to begin to buy brand new vehicles when you don’t need too.
“So because of this decision, millions are brought back into the pocket, and it simply means we can develop the state very well.
“So this is just one of several things in Lagos State that we have committed to, just to reduce cost of governance and improve on the development of our state,” Sanwo-Olu added.
