February 6, 2015 – The Lagos State Government has advanced reasons why Alpha Beta, a tax consulting agency allegedly owned by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is indispensable in the scheme of things.
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos who was speaking at the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce roundtable in Lagos said Alpha Beta was brought in at a time when Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in Lagos was merely N600 million.
“The revenue accruing to Lagos State in 1999 monthly was N600 million. That was not all the revenue that was due to state. This was what the state could get. And the entire budget for the state was less than N20 billion.
“The same state is now generating N20 billion monthly. The revenue didn’t fall from heaven. It was collected by an accounting process that makes everyone want to pay. The truth was that this agency does not touch cash. But when people purvey ignorance as idea, I marvel.
“ We have (Lagos Internal Revenue Service(LIRS) that deals with the taxes. What Alpha Beta does was to put a system check in place so that the government could see its balances and others. And they issue residents tax cards. And immediately we close those doors, investors will begin to have a rethink”, he said.
He said the tax cards are not issued for free and that it was a system of checks and balance, while LIRS issues the bill.
“Sometimes I still see some receipts that don’t look good and I have to call the chairman of LIRS and others demanding answers”, he said.
Fashola said it is annoying that people who don’t know how it works believe lies that have been put in the public without interrogating it.
“We have made the point that this will be a representative democracy”, he said adding that at the heart of representative democracy is taxation.
“And it is constitutional requirement for any citizen not to only voluntarily declare his income but to pay his taxes. So if you want service, first you have to do your own part and expect the government to do its part”, he said.
He also spoke on allegations by Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje to cancel tolling of Lekki-Epe expressway.
“ it worries me. It raises serious question about the understanding of the undertaking. When the idea started, perhaps people don’t connect the dots, the global community is a very small community.
“You hurt one you hurt all. When we were negotiating this concession, they took us back to the Metroline (Cancelled during the regime of General Muhammadu Buhari) and they demanded that a law was passed to assure them that no one will cancel the project.
“And we did. They said we know the present government but we do not know who will take over from you.
“We want the government of your country to give us guarantee. So there is a sovereign guarantee on that project. It is not Lagos that will be hurt but the entire country. Our credit will be reappraised and borrowing cost will increase because there is an instrument called the Federal Support Agreement and this was equivalent to the Sovereign Warranty.
“And when some people say that they want to rule Lagos and the first thing they say was that they will cancel concessions, one must be very careful with such person.
“This was because not only the foreign investors. The local investors are more defining for an economy. And the day a government begins to cancel contracts, it affects the economy. If service was not delivered, review service level. I have reviewed so many agreements since I assumed office”, he said.
