Post by Honorebu on Apr 30, 2016 13:50:30 GMT
The governor was addressing State House correspondents on Friday after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the financial in-flows coming to the states were below their fixed costs, stressing that a drastic measure had to be taken.
"The issue is that you cannot operate a state in the manner in which the financial inflows are coming now. It is very difficult. We have to be realistic. It is like any other organisation. If the inflows are not up to what the fixed costs are like, you have to do something drastic and that is what we are all doing.
"I am an accountant first before being a politician. You need to see the numbers. The numbers do not tally. It has nothing to do with the status you are finding yourself now. It is about the past record, it is about the present status and it is about taking drastic decisions to be able to allow the state's to stay afloat, Ambode said.
The governor said the request by the Nigerian Governors' Forum for 18-month deferment of deductions of debtor-states' allocation was in order.
"There is nothing wrong in asking for moratorium. Lagos State has just restructured its bond programme. It's about financial intelligence. The states are not saying they're not going to pay back. We're saying that based on the present circumstances, we can hold down principal payments and just take interest.
Maybe for a while, let's also ask for moratorium to be able to pay principal at a future date," he stated.
Ambode said he visited Buhari to thank him for his recent visit to China of which, he noted, Lagos State was a beneficiary.
"You'd recall that Lagos State is a major beneficiary of that visit. The Lagos metro rail project of about $2.5bn is being signed up by Nigeria and the President. The Lagos-Kano rail project and other projects are also there. There are many benefits coming to Lagos State. That's why it's important to come and thank him personally," he said.
On the criticisms that trailed Buhari's China trip, Ambode said: "There is nothing you do in form of policies and programmes that people will not oppose. What's important is about the majority of people who are going to benefit from it."
Dailytrust
He said the financial in-flows coming to the states were below their fixed costs, stressing that a drastic measure had to be taken.
"The issue is that you cannot operate a state in the manner in which the financial inflows are coming now. It is very difficult. We have to be realistic. It is like any other organisation. If the inflows are not up to what the fixed costs are like, you have to do something drastic and that is what we are all doing.
"I am an accountant first before being a politician. You need to see the numbers. The numbers do not tally. It has nothing to do with the status you are finding yourself now. It is about the past record, it is about the present status and it is about taking drastic decisions to be able to allow the state's to stay afloat, Ambode said.
The governor said the request by the Nigerian Governors' Forum for 18-month deferment of deductions of debtor-states' allocation was in order.
"There is nothing wrong in asking for moratorium. Lagos State has just restructured its bond programme. It's about financial intelligence. The states are not saying they're not going to pay back. We're saying that based on the present circumstances, we can hold down principal payments and just take interest.
Maybe for a while, let's also ask for moratorium to be able to pay principal at a future date," he stated.
Ambode said he visited Buhari to thank him for his recent visit to China of which, he noted, Lagos State was a beneficiary.
"You'd recall that Lagos State is a major beneficiary of that visit. The Lagos metro rail project of about $2.5bn is being signed up by Nigeria and the President. The Lagos-Kano rail project and other projects are also there. There are many benefits coming to Lagos State. That's why it's important to come and thank him personally," he said.
On the criticisms that trailed Buhari's China trip, Ambode said: "There is nothing you do in form of policies and programmes that people will not oppose. What's important is about the majority of people who are going to benefit from it."
Dailytrust
