The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat has debunked online reports that his office got over N2 billion for the supply of rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridges.
According to an internal memo addressed to the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Hamzat disclosed that his office got N2 million as against the N2 billion being reported.
Reports that Hamzat got the staggering amount, including N30 million monthly by his wife for outreach purposes have been trending online, leading to widespread criticism.
However, in the memo dated November 20, 2023 and addressed to the Director General, Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, the Office of the Deputy Governor described the open letter containing the figures as “untrue, mischievous, fake and unfounded.”
According to the memo by Director, Finance and Account, Tola Ekemode, on behalf the Permanent Secretary, in the office of the deputy governor, it described the procurement agency’s claim and the online story with the headline: ‘Open letter on selected public procurement by LASG in the period April – Sept 2023″, which has been trending since last weekend on social media as total misrepresentation of facts.
It, however, urged the agency to take prompt action in addressing the issue by giving the general public a true account of what was approved for the Office of the Deputy Governor.
The memo addressed to PPA reads in part: “According to the online news, the Office of the Deputy Governor was reported to have awarded the sum of =N=2,017,840,000 for the provision of supply items (rechargeable fans, rechargeable lights and fridges).
“It was also reported that the office spent =N=30,000,000 monthly for outreach to indigents by the Wife of the Deputy Governor and same about for monthly empowerment programme by the Wife of the Deputy Governor.
“The Office of the Deputy Governor wishes to state in unequivocal terms, for your immediate action and the attentions of millions of readers that the report is untrue, mischievous, fake and unfounded.”
The Deputy Governor’s Office further disclosed that it was compelled to write the letter due to the inaccuracies it conveyed; as the story was completely different and not a true reflection of what it has in its records.
“Also, we would not allow some individual(s) and journalists with mischievous inclination bring the personality and name of the Deputy Governor, his wife and the office to disrepute.
“It is important to state that truly, 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 (Two Million, Seventeen Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty Naira) as against the =N=2,017,840,000 (Two Billion, Seventeen Million, Eight Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira as reported by Doherty in his purported letter,” the memo added.
The memo further stated that the report that the office through the Wife of the Deputy Governor spent N30,000,000 monthly for outreach to indigents was inaccurate as the amount stated covered the whole year.
“It is N2,500,000 per month. Same for the Empowerment programme by the Wife of the Deputy Governor which also N2,500,000 per month as against N30,000,000 monthly reported.
“The above narrative is exactly what we have in our records and please, kindly find attached the approvals by Mr. Deputy Governor, the Letters of Award of the contract for your further necessary action.
“This is very sad and Mr. Deputy Governor has expressed his displeasure to this happening and will want your office to kindly address this by giving the public the true picture of things and want your staff to be more careful next time as we cannot have people on the pretext of criticism be cooking up stories without verifying and without credible basis,” the memo said.
