By  Olasunkanmi Akoni

Lagos—Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Tuesday, said he never endorsed the National Good Governance Tour, NGGT, by the Federal Government to the 36 states of federation as being claimed in some quarters.

Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had claimed that Governor Fashola was present at the discussions that led to the birth of the tour.

Fashola, while addressing news men during an inspection tour of ongoing projects in Lekki and Victoria Island axis of the state, said: “The fact that you present something at the Governor’s Forum does not mean that all of us are bound by decisions if we express our disagreements.

“If we do not express our disagreement, clearly we would be bound by decisions that are taken. Again, all of that is subject to laws and people must understand what the Governor’s Forum is for.

“It’s a peer review mechanism by association to learn from one another. So, I can’t submit for example the independence and sovereignty of the people of Lagos at the Governor’s Forum and I express my clear disapproval of the initiative because the question I asked was that, what was the purpose of the tour?

“It does not matter what it costs or what it does not cost, that is another debate, and first of all I want to understand what it is about.”

“Do the people of Nigeria need a tour to know that they are being well governed? That is the real question, what is the tour supposed to achieve? Are they resolving problems at project sites? Where are their projects? What is the value of a Good Governance Tour when you can’t implement a budget?

“I can go on tour of projects because my budget performed 89 per cent last year and I am not on a good governance tour, I am on a project inspection tour trying to solve problems at project sites.”

Fashola noted that a major yardstick for measuring good governance could only be done by those who know, saying “the economy of Lagos is now rated ahead that of Ghana and the United Kingdom.

“Presently the Lagos State economy is being upgraded from stable to positive, that is good governance, you don’t need any campaign to do that. So people should take themselves seriously and take all of us seriously when they talk about these things some of us listen and it offends us. That is mediocre level to which governance is sometimes being taken and we hope they will take this criticism as a need to change the game. We can do better than this, I am convinced, my country can offer a lot more better than it is giving now.”

Fashola, who added that his administration was currently executing no fewer than 1,966 projects across the state in furtherance of its objective of turning it into Africa’s modern mega city, accused FG of starving the state of ecological fund.