Social media has been abuzz for the past 24 hours over a discovery that N78 million was awarded in 2014, for the upgrade of the personal website of the former governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola.
The information was gathered from the budget report of the awarded contracts’ list on the website of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency.
In 2014, the Lagos State Government under Fashola, was listed to have spent N78 million for the upgrade of the website – www.tundefashola.com.
According to details of the contract, it was awarded to Info Access Plus Limited.
Reacting to the public outcry and widespread criticism that has trailed the discovery, Fashola has denied the fact that tundefashola.com is his personal website.
A press statement put out by Fashola’s media team, gave clarification into the matter.
“It is imperative to state here that, the website in question is not Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola’s personal website but an official website which reports and documents his official activities as a way of socially accounting for his stewardship to the people of Lagos State.
“This initiative of having an official website for the Governor was to build on the earlier commitment to open access which saw Governor Fashola being the first serving governor to publish his telephone number on the pages of newspapers.
“As pressure mounted on that number, the website and all of its social media handles became alternative platforms for people to directly engage with their elected governor.
“As former Lagos State Governor, I set out to streamline easy access to myself, while in office and to document my activities for the citizens.
From 2008 and up till May 29, 2015, the www.tundefashola.com web site processed thousands of press releases/speeches, more than 6 million pictures, thousands of videos to generate world class, content-rich online information collateral for the former Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN.”
“The same www.tundefashola.com web site provided great opportunities for the Lagos State Government, as it collated all activities of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, and his government during his two terms. According to Governor Fashola, the Lagos state government spent less than N10m on tundefashola.com and not N78M as claimed by the present Lagos state government.
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