Speeches

World Press Conference To Commemorate The Second Anniversary Of The Administration Of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)

May 29, 2009 - If governance under our presidential constitution were a game of soccer, today would mark exactly the half-time period. Any experienced footballer knows that in any game his side has approximately ninety minutes to win or lose the game plus a few odd minutes the referee may decide to add on as extra time.

In strict constitutional governance, there is no provision for extra time. Moreover, governance is not a game of pleasure or fun. Good or bad governance can make the difference between life and death; failure or success; life long sadness or joy for millions of people.

This is why right from inception our administration made it a point of duty to invest every minute of our time in achieving our overall policy thrust of poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth as well as the sustained transformation of Lagos into Africa’s model Mega City.

I can, therefore, confidently say that in the last 17,520 hours, 1,051,200 minutes and 63, 072, 000 seconds that make up the last two years since our assumption of office in 2009 we have relentlessly pursued the greatest happiness for the greatest number of our people.

Over the last two years, the media has comprehensively reported the activities, policies and programmes of our administration in line with your constitutional responsibilities to hold government accountable to the people as stipulated in Section 22 of Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution.

The media has publicized over the last few weeks the rendering of account of the two-year stewardship of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Lagos State Government leadiing up to today’s grand finale.

Beyond this, we have sustained the innovative tradition of giving an account of our stewardship to the public every 100 days since assumption of office on May 29th, 2007. The last 100 days account which was for the 700th day took place on April 28, 2009.

All of these modes of public communication should expectedly make my job here much lighter today as I intend to focus only on those key accomplishments of the last two years that sign post our commitment to the successful implementation of our Ten-Point Agenda.

An efficient transportation network is the pivot around which the economy of any modern Mega city revolves. The successful implementation of the revolutionary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Lite System transporting passengers in high capacity buses on dedicated bus lanes between CMS through Mile 12 to Ikorodu has been a major accomplishment of our two years in office.

We commemorated the first anniversary of the BRT scheme on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009, and as at that date over 52 million passengers had been transported through the BRT.

The BRT innovation has introduced a culture of better understanding among social classes on our roads as people of low, medium and high social classes ride on the same faster, safer, predictable, relatively cheaper and more comfortable buses from one destination to the other.

This has delivered a new standard of living to our people because an ever increasing number of people park their private cars and prefer to travel on the buses.

The fewer number of vehicles on the roads help to reduce travel time even on non-BRT lanes, save precious man hours and also reduce pollution as vehicles now travel at an average speed of 40-50 km/h compared to an average of 15 km/h before the introduction of BRT. All of these have a positive impact on public health and economic productivity.

The daily successful operation of the BRT involves seamless interaction and cooperation among the pilots, ticket operators, supervisors, and maintenance crew and management cadre of the scheme thus also enhancing our capacity as a people to run complex organizations that require outstanding levels of efficiency.

The BRT system has been strengthened with the introduction of LAGBUS, which currently runs 335 high capacity buses and 195 Daewoo air-conditioned buses along 21 operational routes as the largest Bus Intra-state Transport Operator in West Africa.

The BRT scheme, which currently creates employment for not less than 2,500 persons, is currently being expanded to cover Yaba, Oyingbo, Iddo, Oshodi to Mile 2, Apapa to CMS and ultimately the Iyana-Ipaja-Igando-Ikotun corridor.

Our administration has equally taken critical steps to maximise the water transportation potentials of Lagos State to facilitate more efficient movement of goods, people and services, create employment and boost economic growth.

Already, we have facilitated the operation of two companies, City Link Limited and Metro Ferry, which are offering Ferry services between Badore to Marina and Ikorodu to Marina respectively through Public-Private-Partnerships.

To further strengthen our water transportation network, we have constructed jetties at Agboyi in Agboyi Ketu LCDA and Ijegun Egba in Ori-Ade LCDA while our standard type and ultra modern Jetties are at advanced stages of construction in Ikorodu, Osborne and Badore.

We have equally completed work on the dredging of water transportation routes from Tolu-Ajegunle Canal-Tincan Water Front; Mile 2 – Oke-Afa and Tincan Water Front to Liverpool Bridge while work is on-going on Osborne-Ikorodu; Badore-Osborne and Ikorodu-Ijede-Badore routes.

On rail transportation, we are committed to delivering two of the planned 7-rail road Network designed for the State namely, the Red Line from Agbado to Marina and the Blue Line from Okokomaiko to Marina.

The massive construction and modernization of hundreds of roads and bridges including provision of street lights in virtually all local government areas of Lagos State today will not only impact positively on efficiency of transportation and enhanced property values but also improve safety and security and better economic productivity.

Some of the major road projects complete with modern facilities such as street lights, pipe ducts, drainage channels and beautification of medians, which we have delivered to the public include the Ago Palace Way Extension and Okota Link Bridge in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government; the second phase of the Adetokunbo Ademola Road on Victoria Island; the Bourdillion-Alexander-Gerald roads in Ikoyi; the Montgommery road, Aje road and Commercial Avenue all in Yaba.

Scores of other on-going road construction projects throughout the nooks and crannies of the State include the construction of Ariyo-Ira-Muwo-Tedi-Abule Oshun road and bridge in Ojo Local Government; the Okota-Itire over head link bridge and road works.

The Ajibulu road and bridge in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area; the ongoing expansion and modernization of the 46km Lekki-Epe Expressway; the virtually completed LASU-IBA and Ajah-Badore roads.

The Murtala Muhammed Way from Yaba to Iddo; Herbert Macaulay Way on Lagos Mainland and the dualization of Mobil road and Wilmer Crescent in Apapa Local Government Area.

Other on-going road projects include network of roads in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area, Ikeja Local Government Area; Agege Local Government Area, Alimosho Local Government Area; Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area; Epe Local Government Area and Eti-Osa Local Government Area.

We have paid the contractor to move to site for the immediate commencement of work on the transformation of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway into a 10-lane international high way complete with Bus Rapid Transit Routes, Pedestrian Walk ways and Light Rail mass transit routes; a project that will revolutionize the entire landscape of that corridor and elevate the economy of Lagos State to new heights.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, transportation is so critical to our lives than we have sometimes cared to understand.

Its efficiency determines how many hours of sleep and rest and total well being we get to enjoy. It determines how safely our children can get to school, our wives and husbands to work or their business places, our employees’ arrival time, efficiency of production and so much more.

Today, Lagos remains probably the only City-State of her size and stature without an intra city rail transport. As your elected representatives, we are ready to make that a thing of the past and make Lagos take her rightful ranking in the international community.

The designs for the 27km Blue Line from Okokomaiko to Eric Moore and the 37km Red Line from Iddo to Ijoko are ready. The contract tenders have been reviewed. Only two issues stand in our way. Financing and People.

These are the tools that we require now by way of your support to break the shackle.

We were so close about 30 years ago, we must resolve not to lose this opportunity. The international community is responsive and supportive. Concession Operators have prepared bids, we need to clear the Right of Way and relocate people, because we cannot build it in the air. It must stand on land.

We have done it before when people vacated their land in order for the Eko Bridge to be built. We must reach back to that historic effort to find the inspiration for change once more. We are ready to deliver what will be the final solution to the Lagos transportation challenges.

Egypt has done it, Libya has done it, Angola and South Africa are doing it. Lagos must not be different.

For us, massive infrastructure renewal and expansion across diverse sectors is a key opportunity of virtually constructing our way out of poverty.

Thus, we are constructing and equipping thousands of new classrooms, libraries and laboratories in our public schools; we are constructing at least 200 new magistrate court rooms; we are constructing massive new markets and shopping malls in Oyingbo, Oshodi, Tejuosho and Adeniran Ogunsanya.

In the health sector we have completed and delivered to the public Paediatric as well as Health and Diagnostic Centres at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) while on-going construction projects in the sector include a 3 storey Cardiac and Renal Centre as well as Trauma and Burns Centre at the Gbagada General Hospital; a 4 storey 110- bed Maternal and Child Health Complex at Amuwo Odofin; a 4 storey 100-bed Maternal and Child Complex at Ifako-Ijaiye; a 4 storey 100-bed Maternal and Child Health Complex at Gbaja General Hospital and a brand new ultra modern staff clinic at the Alausa Secretariat.

Thousands of workers are engaged at these construction sites at a time when millions of jobs are being lost across the globe as a result of the global economic crisis. Indeed, in the health sector, we have just given approval for the employment of over 1400 new medical professionals to further boost our public sector health delivery capacity.

This is in addition to the hundreds of jobs we have created for diverse professionals including architects, engineers, lawyers, town planners, accountants and so many others through our expansive Public-Private-Partnership projects in various sectors.

Our release of the State Government’s counterpart fund for the development of the Lekki Free Trade Zone will no doubt also accelerate the growth of that axis as a major commercial, tourist, business and real estate zone in Africa thus enhancing the prosperity generating and poverty alleviating capacity of Lagos State.

The dramatic improvement of the quality of our environment is another major accomplishment our Administration can be proud of in the last two years.

Here again, we have used the aggressive beautification and greening of open spaces across the State not just to uplift the aesthetic appeal of the environment but to also create thousands of new jobs and alleviate poverty.

The transformation of Oshodi is undeniably the flag ship of our efforts in this regard. Not only does traffic now flow smoothly through the former notorious slum and crime zone, the entire area is being renewed into a serene and appealing environment.

If Oshodi can wear this new look, there is no doubt that every part of Lagos State has the potential for positive transformation and we are determined to make this the reality.

The new Simpson Transfer Loading Station is a statement of the quality and standard of solid waste management that will characterize the future of our State at full capacity. It is the first of a series of such stations to be located across the State to compact wastes into smaller volumes for faster and more efficient evacuation to dump sites with fewer trucks.

The Olusosun dumpsite along the entry point to Lagos near Ojota is wearing a new look. From a smoke belching dumpsite has emerged an environmentally friendly site covered in lush green grass in accordance with emerging global trends, preparatory to the next phase of gas emissions.

On-going major drainage and channel construction works continue in Mushin-Cele through Mushin, Idi-Araba and Itire; the first phase of the lining and dredging of System 5 Channel passing through Apapa, Amukoko and Sari-Iganmu; and the first phase of the dredging and lining of System 2 Channel (Shomolu Canal) running through Shomolu, Bajulaiye, Akoka, Gbagada and Iwaya, and other parts of the Sate to channel rain and storm water to their final draining points which are the lagoons, rivers and the sea.

The cleaning of our environment and aggressive tree planting campaign and enforcement of our physical planning laws are meant to preserve lives and property and show intellectual leadership in tackling the menace of climate change in Nigeria.

We have established the future character of our environment by setting up Climate Change Clubs in our schools to get our future leaders involved early.

We successfully hosted this year the first Lagos State International Climate Change Summit which came up with a pro active action plan to contain the challenge in Lagos State and Nigeria.

Our new Model City legislation, which was recently signed into law, has enabled the creation of a State Model Development City Authority that will ensure the orderly and lawful development of model city areas of the State such as Victoria Island/Ikoyi, Alimosho, Badagry, Lagos Mainland Central, Epe, Agege-Ifako-Ijaiye, Apapa, Ikeja and Ikorodu.

In addition to addressing the poverty issue through massive infrastructure construction, we are directly combating poverty through a variety of other measures. For instance, we are sustaining the provision of free education in all public nursery, primary and secondary schools in Lagos State.

We are paying internal and external examination fees for all children in our public primary and secondary schools so that no child drops out of school due to inability to pay; we are sustaining free health care programmes for children under 12, the aged above 60 and free ante-natal care for women.

We are sustaining various other specialized free health care programmes including free testing and treatment for diabetes and hypertension, free limb deformity corrective surgery, free cleft lip corrective surgery, free eye screening, testing, treatment, surgery and provision of free eye glasses as well as free open heart surgery for indigent persons.

Our skill acquisition programme, combined with our Micro Finance Scheme has created an army of several thousand of self employed young men and women running small and medium businesses of their own and employing others. The most recent evidence of this was the delivery of 1,255 Taxi Cabs for new transport business enterpreneurs and the cab operators who are their employees.

We intend to expand the scope of the scheme throughout this year in addition to sustaining our holiday job scheme to engage thousands of students during the vacation period.

Our extensive job creation and poverty alleviation schemes have no doubt gone a long way to help drastically reduce the crime wave in the State over the last two years.

Our initiation and sustenance of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund with the strong and active support of the private sector, the commitment and passion of men and officers of security agencies has reduce and manage crime to a level unprecedented in the history of any State in this country.

As I speak, our Central Command and Control Security Centre is at almost 90% completion stage and the number of CCTV cameras being installed is growing to ensure the utilization of modern technology to effectively monitor and police every inch of Lagos State.

We are equally going beyond our constitutional brief to re-equip and motivate the Nigeria Prison Service in Lagos State to ensure more humane treatment of convicts and speedy dispensation of justice in Lagos State.

Like I said earlier, this is only a half term report and we have accomplished so much in two years that we can spend the whole of today just recounting our achievements.

The payment of N5Billion as pensions arrears owed 5,575 teaching, non-teaching primary school and local government retirees is a major poverty alleviation measure of our administration that has also been a major stimulus to the grassroots economy in the State.

We have also established the Lagos State Pensions Commission to efficiently manage pension funds and ensure that retirees obtain their benefits promptly hence forth.

We are equally working assiduously to reclaim the lost glory of Lagos State in sports through the upgrading of Teslim Balogun Stadium to a FIFA-rated world class facility and the on-going construction of a 15,000 sitting capacity stadium in as well as the upgrading of Campos Square into a 5000 sitting capacity stadium.

I must, of course, mention our recent hosting of the most colourful, globally recognized and successful 81st edition of the unique Eyo Festival also known as The Adamu Orisha Play.

Despite the hardships attendant on the current global economic crisis, the fundamentals of the Lagos State economy remain strong. Rather than retrenching workers as is happening across the globe, we have retained our public sector work force.

The first tranche of N50 billion of our N275 billion Infrastructure Development Bond was completed with sizeable oversubscription by members of the public, which is a reflection of the level of confidence in our government. We can thus appreciate why reputable international risk assessment agencies has awarded our administration impressive risk ratings.

Indeed major African city leaders are visiting to see what we have been doing and to share what they believe is a worthy home grown model.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, although I am the most visible face of the progress of our State, I want to be the first to acknowledge that it has been a team effort of great men and women who have worked with me in the entire public service from my colleagues in the Executive Council to the most junior officer who have allowed me the privilege to be the leader.

The partnership of the other two arms that constitute our Government namely the legislature and the Judiciary has been immensely helpful.

Let me seize this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to the good people of Lagos State for your fervent and unalloyed support for our administration.

Your unprecedented demonstration of appreciation of our modest efforts so far will certainly fuel our determination to do much more to justify the immense confidence reposed in us.

I thank members of the corporate private sector who have partnered with us so enthusiastically to achieve set objectives in diverse sectors.

I am grateful to all individuals including operators in the informal sector who now voluntarily and willingly pay your taxes and rates and I solemnly pledge that we will continue to judiciously expend public resources to continuously elevate our State to new pedestals of excellence.

My heartfelt gratitude also go to all children in Lagos state who, through participating in our various schemes including the School Traffic Advocacy Programme, the Uniformed Voluntary Organizations, the Climate Change Clubs, the re-introduced school debate and quiz programmes are partnering with us even from a tender age in achieving the brighter rewarding future we all so ardently desire.

I also thank members of the fourth estate of the realm for being effective partners with us in the on-going process of transforming Lagos into Africa’s model Mega city.

As we resume the second half of the on-going serious and purposeful of governance in Lagos, I assure you all that there will be no relenting in our pace and tempo till we successfully cross the Rubicon.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we cannot do the same thing and expect the same result. As the impact of globalization settles and the clouds of the economic crises drifts away, I foresee the emergence of a new global order with new financial, legal, environmental and energy regimes that will be characterized by stiff competition by City, State and national leaders, where only the fittest, daring and visionary will survive.

We must be prepared for this new era and be ready to sacrifice to ensure that Lagos is not left behind and remains a critical player in that new world.

Thank you for listening.

Eko o ni baje o!

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State