As continuing fall in oil
prices puts some states in financial difficulties resulting in salary arrears being owed workers, the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, has said the state economy remains robust and capable of discharging its responsibilities to contractors and workers.
Fashola spoke at a special end of year press conference with state house conspondents in Ikeja recently, saying the state which is however not immune to the impact of the oil prices which nosedived to $57 per barrel as at last Tuesday has been able to weather the storm.
According to him, his administration has never based its projections on revenue accruing from the federal account, but  on the people whose contributions to the common purse in terms of taxes.
He said his administration continues to enjoy and leverage on driving the economy through that platform.
According to the governor, support from the people is a direct consequence of the visible development strides across sectors of the states economy, health, education, transportation, housing, power and agriculture amongst others.
Zeroing in on the 2014 budget of N489.69 billion and its implementation, he listed the ongoing Adiyan Water Works phase II (which is to deliver 70 million gallons per day on completion), blue line rail and expansion of Lagos-Badagry Expressway as projects that benefited from the budget.
Others he revealed include the recently commissioned mainland Independent Power Plant (IPP) which supplies uninterrupted power to public institutions like the state police command headquarters and street lights within the Ikeja GRA precincts, Anyinka Housing project at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (which is nearing completion) and some completed Maternal Child Centres (MCC).
“We saw these days coming, so every kobo that this state collected under the Excess Crude Account went into bricks and mortar”, he said.
According to Fashola, he documented everything because he knew such a day of reckoning would come so we invested in infrastructure.
He said the saving of the sovereign fund has not helped grow the economy in terms of infrastructure development.
Reacting to a statement credited to Vice President Namadi Sambo, alleging that industries in Lagos were groaning under the burden of multiple taxation and relocating to other states, Fashola said the statement had better be a misquote of the Vice President.