Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has disclosed that the ongoing construction of the Blue Line of the Light Rail project will gulp N158 billion ($1 billion).
Fashola said this on Thursday at the 6th Lagos State Taxation Stakeholders’ Conference, held at the Haven, Oba Akinjobi Street in Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria. The governor further disclosed that the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway would gulp N100 billion.
According to him, it was part of the borrowed fund that government was using in constructing the light rail project and the Lagos-Badagry expressway, which are projects that would take the state to another level.
The governor stated that there was no way the state could scale up infrastructural development without incurring debt, saying that the United States of America had a debt profile of $16 trillion, while the debt profile of Dubai was also high, adding that despite these people continued to flock to these places because of infrastructural development.
“The debate is not whether we should borrow, but what we are doing with the money,” he said, adding that the state government had continued to run deficit budget to cater for infrastructural development through borrowing, but noted that government was gradually cutting down on its borrowing.
Source: PM News
While we welcome the futuristic goals and developmental plans of the Fashola led government in our beloved Gidi, it's pertinent to mention that the money for the Light Rail Project needs to be paid back.
And that means it has to come from somewhere. . . notably taxes. Don't take my word for it: the Gidi helmsman himself said it.
Even without hearing from him, any smart guy knows that taxes have and always will be a revenue drive for the government, either directly or indirectly.
The bottomline is: Don't get too chipper. . . if you're a tax offender, 'cos 158 billion naira is no joke. Someone's gotta pay. . .
. . . And that means YOU!
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