Lagos State freezes payment for contracts awarded under Ambode

Buhari considering ex-Governor as Fowler’s replacement at FIRS

CONTRACTORS WHO EXECUTED various contracts for the Lagos State government during the immediate past administration of Akinwunmi Ambode are groaning over their unpaid money following the decision of Governor Babajide Sanwoolu’s government to freeze such payments.

Business a.m. learnt at Alausa, the seat of the state bureaucracy, that payment for such contracts is not being prioritised on grounds that the new government is still checking

the books to ascertain the veracity of such contract claims.

The freeze order, it was further revealed, affects all kinds of projects executed under the former governor. The affected contractors, however, worry that their waiting time may be endless as no development has taken place on the matter and a stone wall of silence greets them whenever they visit the secretariat to get information on possible payment dates.

One of the contractors who visited Alausa on Friday, confided in Business a.m. that he could sense that the current administration was not in a hurry to close the chapter and believes it is a fall out of the disagreement between the two camps over matters of finance and probity.

What was initially thought to be a minor disagreement may have, however, morphed into a bitter feud if recent developments are anything to go by. A Lagos Federal High Court recently froze three bank accounts alleged to be linked to the former governor and the Lagos State government over

an alleged N9.9 billion fraud. The case was instigated by the EFCC. The former governor has denied any wrong doing and said the accounts belonged to the Lagos State Government and not him or any other individual.

“Those accounts were opened in the course of normal operations by the Lagos State Government for its administrative purposes and not for the former governor’s personal transactions as was wrongly insinuated and they have been operated to ensure smooth operations of government activities by previous and present administrations,” he said in a statement issued on his behalf by his media aide, Habib Haruna.

However, the seed of the disagreement may have been planted in 2018 in the build up to the gubernatorial contest when Ambode, against the wish of the dominant political group in the state, unilaterally declared his candidacy. He railed against the then favoured aspirant, now governor, Sanwoolu, whom he described as unfit to occupy the position of governor.

The party leaders then papered over the walls to ensure a united front in the face of an inspired opposition.

Another dimension to the conflict may have opened with the recent invasion of the Epe home of Ambode by the agents of the EFCC under the guise of routine investigations when the former governor was out of the country.

Sources familiar with the matter, however, said the raid was a pre-emptive strike by one of the feuding camps to destroy the credibility of the ex-governor in view of his possible consideration by the presidency to replace Babatunde Fowler, the out-going boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), having lost out at the ministerial selection round.

The sources said Ambode’s consideration and subsequent hiring for the plum job will be a big blow to the other camp, hence the haste and method employed to “plant dollars” in his house during the raid which was allegedly thwarted by vigilant supporters.

Ambode attended the University of Lagos where he studied Accounting, graduating at the age of 21. He also has a master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Ambode was awarded the Fulbright Programme scholarship for the Hubert Humphries Fellowship Programme in Boston, Massachusetts. He also attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for Advanced Management Programme. Other institutions he attended for courses and programmes include Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England, the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland, INSEAD, Singapore. Moreover, he attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. Civil service career From 1988-91, Akinwunmi Ambode was the assistant treasurer, Badagry Local Government, Lagos State. In 1991, he was posted to Somolu Local Government, as an auditor. He has also held the position of Council Treasurer in Shomolu Local Government in later years.

He also previously served as council treasurer at Alimosho Local Government, Lagos State. In 2001, he became acting auditor general for Local Government, Lagos State. This position was confirmed by the State House of Assembly. In January 2005, Ambode was appointed the permanent secretary of the state’s ministry of finance.

From 2006- 2012, Ambode was the accountant general for Lagos State, in charge of all the financial activities of the state and directly responsible for over 1400 accountants in the state service. Consulting career After 27 years in the civil service, Ambode voluntarily retired in August 2012. He founded Brandsmiths Consulting Limited to provide Public Finance and Management Consulting services to government at all levels, its parastatals and agencies.