Speeches

1300 Days In Office

Dec 19, 2010 - Dear citizens, eminent Lagosians and Nigerians; today is another milestone in our democratic journey. We have reached the milestone of 1,300 days of 1460 days comprised in the electoral mandate of four years you overwhelmingly handed to our party, the Action Congress of Nigeria.

As the fame and fortunes of our party increases and spreads to other parts of Nigeria, I feel proud to have led a team of public servants, serving in various arms of Government to render account of our stewardship to you every one hundred days.

Today, the thirteenth in the series is the account of what we have done with your mandate, your resources and your time in the last 100 days.

During the period under review starting from September 10, 2010 till today, so much has happened in diverse sections of our State that are worthy of being reported.

One of the significant developments of the last one hundred days was the expansion of the frontiers of the Contributory Pension Law and the reforms that it heralds to secure the future of our public servants in a most assuring way. This was signposted by the issuance of bonds valued in excess of N1billion, to 110 pensioners.

This is the first set of bonds ever issued in Nigeria to any set of pensioners whether employed by the State or Federal Government since the Pension Reform Law was enacted; and it pleases me to assert that the Centre of Excellence is the pack leader in demonstrating its commitment to the welfare of its public servants not only while they are in service, but long after they have left office and for the entire period of their life.

In spite of our overt sensitivity and response to the welfare of our public servants, our State has not been spared the incident of labour disputes currently raging across the States of Nigeria as a result of the Federal Government policies with its own workers.

We have re-affirmed our commitment to the Constitution of our country and the essentials of its Federal arrangement which allows each State and Government to operate at its own pace and capacity.

While we remain committed to improving the welfare of our workers, we will not jeopardize the wage structure of the State that has been carefully planned and built over the years that ensures that salaries are promptly paid as they fall due.

We have therefore set up a State Commission to review wages and salaries as a solution to these agitations; and those who have embraced dialogue with the Commission have found it most responsive.

During the last 100 days, we successfully hosted the Harvard University Programme of Innovation for Economic Development (IFED) in Lagos in which 42 people from the private and public sector participated and benefitted.

In the same period, I launched the Lagos Ignite Programme in partnership with the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC) with the aim of providing employability training and conversion training for young graduates in order to get them jobs or re-orientate them towards areas where their skills are in need.

Another milestone of the last 100 days was the formal commissioning of the El-Sewedy Nigeria Limited transformer manufacturing joint venture company between your Government and the Egyptian company. To the glory of God, operations have started in the company which provides employment for our local people.

Indeed, we have started receiving orders of transformers from other states, to whom I extend gratitude for their patronage.

During the period of the last 100 days, the Lagos Junior League, a football competition of young people still in school was formally inaugurated in Lagos. It was our innovation towards ensuring that our children can receive a good education, participate in sports and also get financial reward that will help them manage their day to day needs.

The last 100 days also witnessed the addition of another 470 taxis to the Lagos Scheme now supported by the State Micro Finance Scheme. I am also glad to report that none of our taxi owners who have benefitted from the Scheme has defaulted in repayment.

During the period under review, the State Government has approved the payment of bursaries to all students of Lagos origin totaling N360,860,180.80 (Three Hundred and Sixty Million, Eight Hundred and Sixty Thousand, One Hundred and Eighty Naira, Eighty Kobo).

Some of the beneficiaries are 3,546 students in Lagos State University (LASU); 2,049 students in other Universities across the country; 957 students in various Polytechnics and 786 students in various Colleges of Education; and our students in the Nigerian Law School.

I must not fail to mention that many of our various policies in support of improving education are beginning to manifest noticeable and gradual success. The Eko Secondary Education Project which was inaugurated with the World Bank is one of such initiatives.

The report of the supervision noted in part the emergence of "…very good results from the Lagos project student standardized tests in English, Maths and Science which improved dramatically in the recent end of year tests compared to the baseline assessments done at the beginning of last year".

According to the World Bank supervision, the rating of the implementation performance is "highly satisfactory"; and in their opinion "…the strong showing in the first year gives us hope that over the life of this project, we will see more dramatic improvements".

Another one of our educational policies is the schools Debate, which is a competition involving Secondary School students in public and private schools.

The winning children and school namely Nuatin Temitope and Olatunji Esther both of CMS Girls' Senior Grammar School, Bariga are the proud products of our public education system which is improving day after day.

Dear Lagosians, as we come to the end of the very severe rainy season, our roads have suffered from expected wear and tear but your Government has been proactive in its planning and preparation, using the period of inclement weather not only to do innovative repairs and intervention, but to strengthen the road maintenance agency, the Public Works Corporation to respond more aggressively.

I am pleased to announce that the Corporation during the last 100 days, took delivery of the equipment it procured during the rainy season which included 10 new tractors, tipping trailers, 13 pickup trucks; asphalt cutter, 6 new rollers, and some, flood lights to enable it work at night.

Not only has the Corporation mobilized to work across the State, its impact is already being felt and this would be sustained in the next few months.

Similarly, within the next six months, it is expected that another 44 new roads will be completed while another 60 new roads are in various stages of work across the State.

Work is already going on with regard to road construction in areas like Ibeshe, Agiliti, Mushin, Idi-Araba, Ilasamaja, Igbo-elerin to mention just a few.

I must not fail to report that the project that we initiated to give title deeds to an estimated 22,000 citizens who had only letters of allocation for over 25 years as their only proof of ownership has been very well received and I am happy to report that not less than 15,000 title deeds have been prepared and will shortly be distributed.

Apart from being locally responsive, the Government has been globally active. In the month of November, Lagos State was represented at the Annual Meeting of the World Health Organisation, Kobe Centre for Public Health Development in Japan where I delivered the keynote address to an audience that was representative of over 120 countries from different regions of the World.

In the same period, I led representatives of our Government to deliver a keynote address to students, architects and Town Planners of world renown at the London School of Economics, where we were invited to share the experiences of the challenges and sanctions involved in managing our State.

Only yesterday, we witnessed the graduation of the first 200 of our youth farmers, under the Lagos Agric-YES Scheme, who have started a life away from unemployment and joblessness and have embraced a future of certainty and productivity for the benefit of our State and country.

As I conclude this report of the activities of your Government in the last 100 days, let me also mention that the Lagos Light rail project, the final solution to the urban mass transit challenge of the State has left the drawing board and construction of the first Phase has started from the Eric Moore end of the Lagos Badagry Expressway.

We have also prepared and submitted for the consideration of the Lagos State House of Assembly, the estimates of the Year 2011 Budget that will enable us continue our transformation of our dear State.

It remains only for me to urge all of us to remain vigilant, live in peaceful co-existence and be ready to participate fully in the Voters Registration exercise that will commence in January 2011 as I wish us all a merry Christmas and a prosperous Year 2011.

Let me assure you all that your Government remains committed to service for a brighter and rewarding future for the remaining 160 days of this tenure.

God bless you all.

Eko o ni baje o!!!

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State