Fashola who was speaking at an occasion to mark 2, 600 days of his administration in Lagos said he told his friend that he could not afford the line and that there was no need for it since he had a phone in his office.
“My friend bought it for me and he said, my friend Tunde you must have this”, he said. Fashola who did not mention names was drawing a comparison between what happened then and the present situation with the Lagos Homes Ownership Mortgage Scheme, Lagos HOMS.
Fashola said the state puts 200 houses in the mortgage market for sale each month, adding that not all in need of the houses would be able to afford it, stressing that it is left for the buyer to apply for houses their income can conveniently pay for.
He called on residents of the state to cast their votes for the All Progressive Congress (APC) if they want the Lagos HOMS project to continue.
He said the project is meant for every LASRRA card carrying residents of Lagos State. “We expect everybody to benefit but not everybody from beginning”, he said.
Fashola also faulted claim by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) that the it has created 1.6 million jobs, noting that going by that figures, each state should have a minimum of 40,000 jobs which he said is far from reality.
While benchmarking budget performance of his APC government with the PDP, he said performance in the last quarter was 67 percent whereas the PDP led government was still struggling to pass a budget, this he pointed out is due largely to lack of ideas.
According to him, the PDP government started with Vision 202020 and shifted to 7 point agenda, nothing that the transformation agenda of the PDP led government is going nowhere because there is no idea behind it.
He also blamed the Federal Government for epileptic power supply in the country, stressing that the state is not able to go into commercial power generation since it is inhibited by law to sell what it generates commercially except to power state infrastructures like the Lagos State Secretariat, the Police College, Courts , water plants and other state infrastructures, nothing however that it is possible for every Nigerian to have power 24 hours but that it will remain a mirage so long as the PDP remains in power.
“Vote APC into power if you want power “, he said, adding that it is a strange desire for the PDP to seek power in 2015.
While acknowledging that it is now 88 days since over 200 girls were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, he said the girls will return and reunite with members of their family and appealed to members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram to release the girls.
Edited by Emmanuel Thomas
