Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola yesterday denied allegations that the state government misappropriated the $90million (N13.5billion) World Bank Education Loan granted the state in 2009.
The governor who vehemently denied the fraud allegation, in Lagos yesterday said the state government has nothing to hide on how it spent the funds.
Lagos State is the most indebted state in Nigeria, despite generating over N17 billion monthly as taxes and collecting over N13 billion monthly from the Federation Account. The State under Fashola and Tinubu have collected several loans and bonds from local and foreign financial institutions.
The Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had in December 2013 accused the state government of mismanaging the funds and sought the order of the Federal High Court, Lagos to the state government to release information on its spending of the loan.
SERAP also asked the court to demand details of the projects executed with the loan in the 667 schools across the state in line with the Freedom of Information Act.
But Fashola at the ceremony emphasised that the concerns raised in some quarters that the money had not been spent in an open manner were unfounded, pointing out that the funds had been judiciously utilised for the development of education sector. He explained that the loan, obtained to fund teaching and learning infrastructure under the State’s Eko Secondary Education Project was achieving its purpose, saying it had significantly improved students’ performance.
Fashola said, “Some people have made unsubstantiated allegations against us that we have stolen World Bank money.
“But in this government, our collateral is our collective integrity. We have nothing to hide. That is why when we mark our every 100 days in office, we give account to the people because we have nothing to hide.
“The results of our N13.5billion World Bank Education loan are in the open for everybody to see.And those who are managing the funds are providing the details of how they are spending the loan”.
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