Lagos State Deputy Governor and All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for the 2027 election, Obafemi Hamzat, has defended the state’s financial transparency, saying government accounts, audit reports, procurement records and project costs are published for public scrutiny.
Hamzat said his proposed administration would sustain transparency through the Lagos Treasury and the Hamzat Compact, which he said would ensure that residents had access to information about government revenue, expenditure, loans and projects.
He spoke during a town hall meeting organised by BusinessDay, where he responded to concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.
The deputy governor said the state government published its financial information quarterly and subjected its accounts to annual external audits.
He challenged residents who questioned the government’s transparency to examine the information available on the Lagos State Government’s website.
He said, “Somebody on this floor said, I saw the publication, and I critique it.’ It’s because it’s there. It is because it’s there. It is published quarterly. This state gets audited. This government publishes it quarterly.
“Every year, external auditors audit the Lagos State Government; every year, the report is presented publicly. So what you choose to see, well, maybe you need to give it up, but we’ll give it. So the bottom line is that everything today is published.”
Hamzat also said information on government procurement and public-private partnership arrangements was accessible through dedicated websites.
He explained that the state had a public-private partnership office to provide information on projects involving collaboration between the government and private investors.
On government borrowing, the APC candidate said the Debt Management Office was required to document loans and projects, adding that relevant information was also submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Assembly.
He said, “But for us, what is important is to make sure that every money that is spent, that we have a DMO office.
“That office must write for every project that we do, for every loan that we get, for everything that we must do. We must send it to SEC, must send it to the Senate. So it’s public information. It’s transparent, it’s open, and you can see what the state government is doing.”
Hamzat further cited the Lagos Blue and Red rail lines as examples of projects whose contract amounts were made public, arguing that the government disclosed the costs of its infrastructure investments.
He said the availability of such information was part of the transparency framework he intended to maintain through his proposed administration.
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