SHAFT OF LIGHT

The Lagos State government owns up to mistakes on its website, writes Kolade Akinyele

How grave can a little mistake be? In September 1999, NASA lost a $125m Mars Climate Orbiter because two sets of scientists worked with different units – inches and metres – and got wrong calculations. 

In Nigeria, the Lagos State government recently witnessed the sort of embarrassment a little mistake can cause. Last week, the Lagos State gubernatorial candidate of the Action Democratic Congress, Funso Doherty, stopped short of accusing the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration of malfeasance in an open letter. 

According to Doherty, a Chartered Accountant, reviewing the state’s procurement between April 2023 and September 2023 which was published on the website of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency (LSPPA), he found some confounding items which he wanted  the governor to address. 

He wondered in his letter how Sanwo-Olu’s office was deodorised with over N7 million while the office of the deputy governor, Hamzat, bought rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridge worth N2 billion in July. Also included was N18,468,000 awarded to the office of the chief of staff for the “supply and distribution of 2,000 Noiler chicken across the local government areas and wards in the state”. Then another sum of N440,750,000 was awarded to the office of the chief of staff for the “procurement of a brand new Lexus LX 600 Bullet Proof Sport Utility Vehicle.” Hamzat’s wife was also not spared. Doherty’s letter pointed out that N30, 000,000 each was given for “monthly outreach of indigent citizens by the wife of the deputy governor” and “monthly empowerment programmes of the wife of the deputy governor.”

Since Doherty’s letter was published, Lagos State and its leaders have been bashed, mostly by an opposition with glee. And given the harsh economy, their rage, if found to be true, would have been justified. Thankfully, the involved parties have been voicing corrections at and offering insights beyond the figures reported in Doherty’s letter.

Earlier, the office of the deputy governor described the report as “untrue, mischievous, fake and unfounded” in a letter to LSPPA for clarification. Part of the letter read: “It is important to state that, the office did get approval and awarded the provision of supply items (rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridges) for the sum of N2,017,840 and not the N2,017,840,000 as reported on the website of your agency.

The letter also corrected that the wife of the deputy governor got N2, 500, 000 monthly each for “outreach to indigents” and “Empowerment programme” and not N30,000,000 monthly each as reported.

“These errors or inaccuracies exhibited by your data are capable of putting credibility at stake. One then wonders about the accuracy of the content on the site if the items concerning the Deputy Governor’s Office can be this inaccurate. It is therefore important that you look through the data and confirm the correctness or otherwise of all the details of the report as displayed on the website,” the letter added.

However, the Director General, Lagos State Office of Public Procurement, Mr. Fatai Idowu Onofowote, had owned up to the figures but said Doherty misrepresented the facts in the information contained in the documents he posted. But it’s clear that the procurement agency made careless mistakes. These mistakes should serve as a lesson to government workers that sloppiness has a steep price and must be avoided. 

Despite the clarifications, the internet has continued to buzz with abuse of Lagos and her leadership. But rather than respond in kind to abusers of the administration he leads, Sanwo-Olu chose the path of honour. Speaking at the commissioning of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) building, recently, the governor said he appreciates criticism in his commitment to delivering good governance and serving Lagosians.

“We are committed, responsible and transparent,” Sanwo-Olu said, addressing Doherty’s letter for the first time.  “We don’t have a problem with anybody, or any individual. We acknowledge that these are ways we should be doing things. We appreciate criticism. We appreciate the fact that people can look at us in the face that we need to do well in the state. So we don’t have a problem with the originator of an open letter. In fact we like it and we want to thank him, and that’s to say that indeed, to be a government that’s firm and responsible, we should not shy away from criticism.

“But it is only when criticism is malicious, unintended and it is to misrepresent the truth and that’s where there’s a problem. Some officers in Lagos have all come out to say that indeed we can make mistakes on some lines of items. I heard of a particular one that an item was meant to be N2 million but it was written as N2 billion.

“For me, I’m leading a team of very dedicated public officials; I’m leading a team of committed civil servants. I’m leading a team of self-motivated public officials who want to stand and say that they can be well recognised. All we want to do is to serve the people of Lagos, and serve the state with every iota of strength and commitment we have, and believing Lagosians can truly see the benefit of our service.

“I just want to make this point, and put it to rest. The website will continue to work. We’ll put all our numbers there and we’ll continue to pride ourselves at all times that indeed we can make mistakes but it is not any intention for us to be unmindful of what public goods are, and to ensure that public goods is what will continue to be respected.”

Firstly, I want to believe that if the Lagos State government wanted to be involved in some form of malfeasance, it would be more creative than crediting the humongous sums to those items. Also, if the government is interested in a cover-up, surely it knows how it can tweak the machinery not to make such an item appear in or make it disappear from the books of one of its agencies. By inference, I reasoned there must be an explanation.

However, what I particularly liked about the way Sanwo-Olu handled the matter is his tact, patience and humility. He didn’t go on the defensive, hurling angry or hateful words at Doherty or detractors who latched on to the letter to abuse him as some politicians would have done. Rather, he came out publicly to acknowledge and own the mistake made by LSPPA. Taking responsibility. Like a good leader should. 

Akinyele writes from Lagos