I Am Yet To Acquire New Vehicles With Government’s Money As Governor – Sanwo-olu
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday gave reason why he is yet to acquire any new vehicle for himself with government’s money since he became governor in 2019.
The Governor spoke at the 22nd Annual Tax Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island in Lagos.
He charged governors to look into their expenditure profile and do away with unnecessary spending to increase state revenue for government to have more resources to meet the basic needs of the people.
Sanwo-Olu stressed the need for better utilisation of tax payers’ money by public office holders to build the trust of the citizens, adding that State executives must work toward having a better reform process.
The Governor, who disclosed that he is yet to use state resources to purchase any vehicle for himself since he assumed office as governor on May 29, 2019, said it is not necessarily fanciful that Governors must buy brand new vehicles when there is no need for them.
He said:
“We need to look at our expenditure profile as Chief Executive of our state and ask ourselves, where can I cut the red tape; what can I do away with so as to increase the revenue of my state or even make available more money for my state.
“What I have done till date is that I have not purchased any single official vehicle for myself, for any of my personal staff or any of my family members from the government purse. If you see me have a convoy of 10 vehicles, these are all vehicles I was using during my campaigns.
“Governor Nasir el-Rufai joined me in one of my cars this morning and I can tell you that vehicle was one of the vehicles I used for my campaign; it is not brand new.
“So, I said to my people that, it is not a fanciful thing that every governor must begin to buy brand new vehicles when you do not need to.
So, all of those millions have gone back into the treasury of the state and we are using it to develop the state very well.”
