Funso Doherty writes Sanwo-Olu demands transparency, accountability over trip to Aisha Achimugu’s 50th birthday party in Grenada

In the event that the trip was funded from the state purse, Doherty urged the governor to consider making a refund of the cost.

According to him, this is because the expenditure the governor might have spent on the trip could not be justified.

Doherty made the call in an open letter to Sanwo-Olu, in reaction to an exposé on Sanwo-Olu’s abandonment of work for a fun trip to Grenada for days.

In his letter, Doherty admitted that the Lagos state governor has the right to travel to any choice destination, so long as the trip is privately funded.

However, he noted that in the case of official trips funded by taxpayers, a different standard applies.

“All such official trips should be undertaken only if they are legitimately and demonstrably in the public interest,” he noted.

Doherty queried how “bilateral talks” with Grenada could possibly be of economic gain to Lagos state, noting that its economy is primarily tourism-based and “has little complementarity, trade volume and potential with Lagos.”

“Grenada is a distant Island nation with a very small population of approximately 130,000 people and a National GDP of just over $1 billion, both of which are a small fraction of those of Lagos State,” the statement read.

Doherty further stressed that considering Lagos’ current budget deficit of N400 billion naira, the governor’s trip only adds to the state’s financial burden.

“As you are aware, despite concerns we raised, the State House of Assembly has passed, and you have signed into law, a greatly increased expenditure budget of N2.27 trillion for 2024 with a projected budget deficit of over N400 billion, which the already over-stretched average Lagosian will ultimately bear,” he said.