By: Subair Mohammed
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have summoned the Commissioner for Physical Planning, Urban Development, Hon. Paul Bamgbose Martins and the Special Adviser for Public Private Partnership (PPP), Hon. Ope George, to provide information on their refusal to make recourse to it for ratification before contracts are signed.
The summon was sequel to Matter of Urgent Public Importance raised by Hon. Nureni Akinsanya, representing Mushin Constituency 1.
The lawmaker urged the House to look at the flagrant disregard for the laws of the state on contractual agreements.
Hon. Akinsanya however, cited some PPP contracts entered into without following due process, stating that “the trend needed to be discouraged, the law should be enforced and followed, all contracts should be put on hold for now.
“Let’s invite the Commissioner and other concerned agencies for questioning,” he said.
For Hon. Rotimi Olowo, representing Shomolu Constituency 1, the main focus was centered on the financial implication and ability to determine state deficit.
“It makes lending for construction of infrastructural facilities easy. Many are not known to us. They disobeyed the law that affords moderation of the projects embarked on.
“I think it is high time we did something to strengthen the respective committees to check and allowed the house to deal with it.
“The officer involved and contractors should come before the House for scrutiny.”
Hon Lukmon Olumoh was quick to note that many of the MDA’s have not met the standard in respect of due process.
According to him, many of them ran foul of legal provisions for contractual purposes, “the ratification of the House is to protect the interest of the state as well as that of the investors.
Hon. Temitope Adewale counseled that the need for ratification of the House is in the interest of people and the state because of “unforeseen circumstances that could lead to litigation, PPP project is a brilliant idea, laws made to direct the process need to be followed.
“Contracts being signed and not brought before the House for ratification is a flagrant disregard for the rule of law.”
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, who presided over the plenary ruled that the cited individuals be summoned to avail the House with the required details to give a clearer picture and guard against the untoward development.
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