Press Releases

Beautification Projects: Elitist Categorisation Is Inacurate And Illogical - Fashola

Jan 27, 2010 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Wednesday evening described as inaccurate and illogical, views that the beautification and cleaning up efforts in the State by the present administration is elitist.

Governor Fashola who spoke during an interactive meeting with Governor’s Office Correspondents at Lagos House, Marina, added that the same beautification project is providing jobs for thousands of young boys and young girls whose parents are indigent.

In his words: “Some people have profited from the chaos and disorder that was Lagos. They will feel aggrieved that we are cleaning up the city. We don’t make any apologies for trying to clean up our state”.

“You will feel the impact of our efforts from every corner of the state whether it is in Ipaja, Victoria Island, Lawanson or Oworonshoki. Even in Ijora Badia. The people who live there, are they also elites?”, he added

Governor Fashola also stated: “More importantly for our projects, the same contractor handling a particular road project in Victoria Island is the same handling a similar road project in Alimosho. We believe that if it is good for the people in the Island, it should also be good for the people in Mainland. We have not discriminated. It is the same quality across the State”.

He asked: “The schools that we are building, is it the elites whose children attend the schools?. The BRT buses that ply the routes, is it elitist?, or the many medical missions, surgeries, jigibola which the state government organizes, are they for the elites. People should not stereotype and lock people’s thinking on their own assumptions. They should stop turning facts upside down”

The Lagos State Governor said there is a need to redefine the concept of elite and determine those who benefit from government projects.

On the issue of how many indigenes of the State have been evacuated from the scene of the crisis in Jos, Plateau State Governor Fashola said after he got an assurance of the safety of all residents of Jos from Governor Jonah Jang, the State has only offered relocation assistance to a few people who sought its assistance to return home.

While responding to a question on the adequate monitoring of ongoing State’s projects, the Governor explained that not only does every project have a project officer attached to it, there is also a monitoring team from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget that certifies all contracts before payment, as part of many layers of monitoring.

On the Ayobo-Ipaja-Aiyetoro road which is in a deplorable state, Governor Fashola said the Government will fulfill its commitment on the road pointing out that the construction will be undertaken in two phases.

Governor Fashola added that the same scenario applies to areas like Agiliti whose design has just been completed and promised that as soon as the budget is passed, government’s presence would be felt there.

While reacting to a question on what the administration has in stock for residents of Medina Estate and Gbagada in general, the Governor said today, substantially, the State Government has succeeded in tackling the issue of flooding in Gbagada and this is still ongoing.

He said the responsibility of government is to start with the big drains which it has done with the big storm drainage in Gbagada, then the canals and later the streets, adding that if the streets are flowing and the canal is not, there will still be floods.

On how prepared the state is for the coming rainy season, Governor Fashola said the administration has demonstrated its capacity to mitigate flooding, as some parts like where people refer to as ‘River LUTH’ in Idi-Araba or Obele are now dry.

He revealed that the government is constructing channels from Yaba all through the six drainage systems of the state, trying to interconnect them, adding that about seven kilometres of canals is being built from Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, all the way to Ijora because many of the drainages have been blocked.

The Lagos State helmsman said instead of demolishing houses and churches, it is creating a new alignment which is expensive, but where all the water from Iddo, Sabo, Onike and all of that will ultimately interlink.

He urged members of the public to be wary of lands to be bought in the Lekki Free Trade Zone area, as the land for the LFTZ have been acquired, with compensation and acquisition claims already being attended to by the State Government.

While commenting on the activities of Fashola Fans club, the Governor said though every individual, organization have their fans, he is busy with his job and would only take the activities of the club as a token of the expression of what the people feel about what the present administration is doing, adding he remains focused.

On the proposed expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Express Way project, the Governor said the project which is scheduled for completion within 48 months is on course, adding that government is also looking at many ways of making it quicker if it gets funding as well as managing the traffic.

He also said Nigeria does not need the service of a foreign coach for the Nigerian national football team.

Said he: “Foreign coach to do what?. To take us the World Cup?. Is there any country that is going to the World Cup whose coach is available now. Or you want to hire that who could not qualify his own country to replace yours who qualified you, because the only ones who are available are the ones who did not qualify for the World Cup”.

“Let us know what we want. Do you want to play well and lose in the first round. We must respect coaches for who they are. There are some coaches whose style has no flair but they get the job done. If it is winning, Coach Shuaibu Amodu is winning”.

While admitting that the Nigerian National team can play better, he called for injection of more youthfulness into the team. He said Nigeria has not instituted a cadet system that enables talents to be discovered in a productive manner.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele had expressed appreciation to the Governor for creating time to have the interactive session with the media Correspondents who cover his activities.

He also gave kudos to the Correspondents for doing a good job, adding that several times, much emphasis is laid on what is considered as sensational stories attributed to the correspondents than the positive ones they wrote.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Lagos Governor’s Office Correspondents, Taiwo Olapade, congratulated Governor Fashola for giving hope to this generation that it is not a wasted generation, with his impactful style of administration.

The event was attended by all media Correspondents accredited to cover the Governor’s Office.