The Lagos State Government has said apart from destruction, many of the state parastatal assets were stolen during the #EndSARS protests.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Parastatal Monitoring Unit, Dr Afolabi Ayantayo, added that Lagos nearly suffered an economic standstill due to the actions.

He spoke on Tuesday during the ministerial press briefing to mark the second year in office of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

He said, “Following the unfortunate EndSARS protest and the attendant heavy destruction of public and private properties, the state suffered a heavy damage to critical public property and this nearly brought the state to a standstill economically. The parastatals were not spared; their assets were either stolen or destroyed.”

Ayantayo said 20 parastatals were affected.

“To determine the level of the damage of the parastatals, the office carried out on-the-spot assessment of destroyed and stolen assets of the state’s parastatals. The report of the assessment has been forwarded to Mr Governor. About 20 parastatals were affected in varying degrees,” he added.

He further added that the Rebuild Lagos Trust Fund had yet to present the estimate of the worth of assets and properties destroyed.

Ayantayo also said the government had started the review of laws governing parastatals.

“A total number of 54 of such enabling laws have been forwarded to the Law Reform Commission for review. When the exercise is completed, affected agencies would have better enabling laws that would enhance their operations,” he said.