By Modupe Gbadfeyanka
The audit of all the capital projects carried out by the local councils of Lagos State in 2017, when Mr Akinwunmi Ambode was Governor of the metropolis, has commenced.
According to the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Public Account Local, which is overseeing the probe, it will question the council chairmen, managers, treasurers, engineer and budget officers of the third tier of government on how they executed the projects in the year.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Mojeed Fatai, stated that some of the issues to be examined include verification of projects, pictorial evidence, work orders, contravention of direct labour if any; if the capital projects were done in accordance to the capital budget of that year amongst others.
He said the invited persons would be required to attend to issues raised by the Auditor General of the Local Government accordingly.
The Auditor General had recommended in a submitted report that capital projects of all the councils for the period of January to December of 2017 should be looked into.
At a meeting held on Thursday, Chairman of the panel stressed that this exercise was not to witch-hunt anyone but rather to look at the queries raised by the Auditor General in the report.
While pointing out the probe will last for two weeks, Mr Fatai argued that there was the need to estimate the extent these local councils performed in the area of projects in accordance to the recommendation and to establish those who really have the interest of their constituents in mind.
He, however, advised all the council officers to provide necessary information cum documents that would assist the committee.
Adedapo Adesanya