Lagos Disagrees With Sambo Over Comments On Heavy Taxation

The Lagos State Government has said the statement credited to Vice President Namadi Sambo that people were leaving the state in droves as a result of the heavy taxes imposed on them by the All Progressives Congress-led administration in the state, is untrue and ‘lacking in facts’.

In a statement on Monday by the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Information and Strategy, Lateef Raji, the government wondered how the vice president, who was not known for courting controversy, could make such a statement.

It, therefore, advised Mr. Sambo, to in the future, make “simple greetings” instead of making “non-residential claims that are lacking in facts”.

Raji said the state government had been innovative in the management of its Internally Generated Revenue, adding that “attendant improved and consistent performance over the years will continue to be mind-boggling for all those who do not appreciate the need to move from the past and adopt innovations in order to improve the lot of the society”.

He said, “The fact remains that Lagos continues to attract the inflow of people like the bee to the honey, in pursuit of their means of livelihood daily. The Lagos State Government had for long realised that the state, with its enormous social and economic potential, cannot continue to depend on the allocation from the Federation Accounts if it must deliver on the popular expectations.

“Measures were then introduced to drive efficiency in the tax assessment and collection regimes by effectively plugging loopholes and leakages in the system. The result was the leap in the accruable to the coffers of the state government”.

Raji added that the state government had embarked on infrastructure upgrades to meet the critical areas of need like never experienced before.

“At any given time, not less than two hundred roads, not leaving out those of the Federal Government, are being executed.

“The Vice President is not known for courting controversies, but as a junior partner in Nigeria’s uninspiring Presidency, he cannot but speak during public engagements. Rather than join the gabby gang in Abuja, simple greetings and a few compliments will do instead of making non-residential claims that are lacking in facts”, he said.

Raji further added that the state government would be willing to provide Sambo with accurate data that could assist him to make informed deductions.