Fashola promises to boost local businesses

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, says his administration will continue to boost local businesses and attract more investors by giving out developmental contracts.
The governor said this at the Lagos House, Ikeja, while reviewing the 2014 budget, which he said performed cumulatively up to 83 per cent.
The budget for 2014 was N489.695bn. The same amount had been estimated for 2015.
Fashola said although there were prevailing financial difficulties in the country, his administration would keep awarding contracts to support small and medium scale businesses in the state.
He said, “As our administration winds down, our priority is to do more of what we have done previously well, and do less of those things that we haven’t done well;
which were not many.
“What we will do more is to settle as many obligations as we can. In spite of the difficult financial situation, we will encourage contractors to accelerate and complete more ongoing projects, like the housing scheme and road construction. We are also issuing more contracts to support small businesses in the state.
“We are in procurement for maintenance contract for about 666 schools. These are contracts which range from N2m to N5m. These were given to graduates from our technical and vocational centres, who have formed small businesses, and Lagosians who bided for the contracts. We believe that this will help them to survive in this economic time.”
Fashola said his administration had started executing the 2015 budget, adding that the impact of the budget performance could be seen in the completion of some of the state’s projects.
He said, “Our fourth quarter performance in 2014 was 77 per cent and the cumulative percentage was 83 per cent. We have started work on the 2015 budget while some people are still unable to present their budget for 2015.
“Our budget is all about service and some of the impact of the fourth quarter performance could be seen in the completed court buildings in Epe, Ikeja and the solar powered projects in the primary schools and the primary health care centres.
“Also, progress made on road construction can be seen across the state ─ Agiliti, Isheri-Oshun and others. The Gbagada cardiac and kidney centre is completed and will be inaugurated very soon.”