Lagos State House of Assembly has summoned a former Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Shulamite Olufunke Adebolu, to appear before it and give a detailed account of how the money allocated for the 2019 Greater Lagos Fiesta was spent.

At plenary yesterday, the Chairman, House Committee on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Saka Solaja, under Matter of Urgent Public Importance, informed the House how the 2019 Greater Lagos Fiesta failed despite the huge budget allocated for the successful execution of the programme.

He noted that the past fiestas held in the state were well organised, with Lagosians and artistes hailing the government on the initiative.

The lawmaker expressed regrets that the last fiesta, besides witnessing a low turnout compared to previous years’, also had many flaws due to poor planning and improper organisation.

He said: “We allocated huge sums of money to the ministry for this yearly programme to hold, but we were surprised about how the programme went in 2019. So many Lagosians complained bitterly and some artistes also expressed their displeasure at how the event failed.”

Other legislators, while contributing, expressed sadness about how the event failed woefully in 2019. Some of them noted that the ones organised previously earned the state huge revenue.

Majority Leader Sanai Agunbiade said the intention of the fiesta was to raise the bar of tourism.

He lamented that the 2019 Fiesta had a poor publicity, adding: “People were asking questions to know if the fiesta was going to hold or not, but eventually, there was nothing.

“Those who were meant to attend the occasion were not carried along and the event ended up failing. The fact that someone is or no more in government doesn’t mean he or she can’t be summoned to explain some grey areas,’ said Agunbiade.

Other members, who commented, complained that the failure of the programme in 2019 led to the loss of revenue generation.

They said that the former commissioner must appear before them to explain why the fiesta failed despite the huge sums allocated to finance it.

They praised the chairman of the Tourism Committee for bringing the matter before the House, noting that it shows the committee is on top of its game.

The lawmakers, in their resolution, also called the special adviser and permanent secretary in charge of the ministry to join the former commissioner in appearing before them. They equally called on the present Commissioner in the ministry, Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, to come and brief them on the itinerary of the ministry for this year.

Governor Sanwo-Olu sacked the former commissioner in January over the flop of the ‘Greater Lagos Fiesta’.