Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s request for the state government to assume full ownership of the privately-owned Lekki Concession Company Limited (LCC), has been granted by the Lagos state House of Assembly.
This came after the assembly’s Committee on Finance was directed to investigate and report its findings after the request was received on June 21.
During the committee’s presentation on Monday August 9, its chairman Rotimi Olowo stated that after buying-out all the shareholdings interest of LCC, the state government has become the subsisting shareholders of the company with 75% shareholding while the Office of Public-Private Partnerships was left with the remaining 25% shareholding.
Olowo also disclosed that the original $53.9 million loan obligation from a private sector facility – the African Development Bank (AFDB) had been resolved after series of engagements between the bank, LCC, and the state government.
He said this was to convert the loan to a public sector facility with the benefit of a considerable reduction in interest charges of 1.02% of $1.12 million bi-annual, as against the 4.12% of $2.746 million per bi-annual, thus giving a savings of $1.16 million bi-annual or $3.24 million per annum.
The lawmakers who granted the executive the approval to convert the AFDB loan to the public sector loan, backed up by a sovereign Federal Government guarantee on behalf of the state government, also authorised the state government to issue a counter-guarantee in favour of the Federal Government along with an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) to deduct from Lagos State Government statutory allocations.
Servicing of the loan obligations according to the reports, will continue till August 2034.
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