Press Releases

City Traffic Management: Lagos Is Doing Very Well, Says Fashola

Apr 9, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Monday took a retrospective look at his extensive visit to three major cities of the world namely Washington D.C, Chicago in the United States of America and Cairo in Egypt, declaring that he is proud to say that Lagos is doing very well.

Governor Fashola who spoke during an interactive session with newsmen on what transpired during the visit at the Lagos House, Ikeja added that each of the three cities have one or the other to learn from Lagos in terms of city traffic management.

He added that while he was in Washington DC, he experienced at least two hours of traffic between Capitol Hill where he had gone to keep an appointment and where he stayed nearby despite the presence of underground rail, adding that the same situation is obtainable in Cairo whose traffic is simply unimaginable.

The Governor recalled that some 10 to 15 years ago, public transportation in Cairo was a nightmare such that some people sat on the roof of public buses to move around

Governor Fashola noted that the lessons for other cities from what is happening in Lagos derive from the fact that inspite of the infrastructure and the very large population; things are still moving especially in terms of transportation.

He noted that the challenges of Nigeria as a nation is not unique to her but that which all leaders are seeking to solve and deal with, explaining that it has become more pronounced because more than two thirds of the world population are moving to the cities continually.

“City managers and leaders are continuously looking at all options of mass transit. We are on the right track with the successes recorded by BRT, LAGBUS as well as the clearing of Oshodi. We are committed to taking leadership as a model mega city”, Governor Fashola said.

On the issuance of travel warning to American citizens by the US government on the possibility of terrorists attack on the US Embassy in Nigeria, Governor Fashola noted that the issue was one which borders on national security which the National Security Adviser who is very competent is handling.

He added that certain pro-active steps have been taken at the state level, adding: “Locally, while I was away, I have spoken with all local security agencies and we are doing our best in terms of pre-emptive actions to ensure safety of life and property”.

The Governor however warned against generalizing that the country is insecure on account of an incident of a problem in one state of the Niger Delta saying: “Even in Canada and Mexico which share borders with USA, there have been many gang wars going on in Vancouver, Canada and Mexico where the drug barons are fighting the Army”.

Said he: “Our problems are not unique to us. It is all over. Even in Italy, where there was an earthquake, you will discover that one of the problems that aggravated the disaster was the failure to comply with Town Planning laws”.

He emphasized that the unfortunate incident has reinforced the resolute determination of the State Government to take enforce building compliance among the citizenry adding that the government’s monitoring of compliance also requires the support of the populace, saying some have resorted to building even at night.

He advised people planning to erect structures to seek building approvals before erecting such structures while those with old and defective buildings should apply to the state to have them demolished before being rebuilt, saying the state is willing to assist the people to perfect such moves.

Responding to a question on his impression after an extensive tour of Cairo to the parent company of the metre and transformer company, the Governor said his visit also opened new vistas on why the country should start to look at the development of vast potentials of the petrol chemical industry in the country instead of outright exporting of crude oil.

He added that this has become imperative because the joint venture partner of Lagos State which is producing meters and transformers also produces casing of the meters within the confines of the factory from plastics which is a bye product of petroleum.

Governor Fashola hinted that the state is looking at the possibility of seeing what it can do in terms of wind energy because renewable energy represents the future of power generation in the nation.

He added that his recent visit afforded him the opportunity to inspect the Cairo factory of the joint partner of Lagos State in the production of transformers and meters, where he saw young men and women working on assembling meters, both the electro mechanical and digital meters that are readily convertible through software to the main meters and which the state intends to have in Lagos.

He listed one of the gains that the state and nation will be able to enjoy as being able to take from its local inventory transformers and meters which are very crucial in electricity supply, because after generation, it has to be transmitted through high tension transmission cables from generation points to distribution points.

Governor Fashola informed that apart from the plant offering jobs to many Nigerians who would be assisted by few Egyptians to provide technical support and training.

He noted that the technical partner El- Swedy group and reassured that the technical partner is a foremost name not only in North Africa but the Middle East and a major operator of the energy sector of Cairo where power runs for 24 hours.

On the possible impact of the economic meltdown on the proposed project and the country in general, Governor Fashola said the solution lies in Africa and developing nations where huge markets exist that are not yet saturated and need services and will also benefit from capital investments.

He added that now is the time to invent new solutions to keep capitalism going in the next few decades as capitalism had moved from the period of industrial revolution to a period of cash, now to credit and leasing in order to sustain production and keep jobs.

Governor Fashola said the meltdown should be seen as a period of global change which has reinforced the fact that capitalism must respond to globalization.

Said he: “A new challenge has come which is globalization. It is where businesses have no boundaries or frontiers anymore. It is no more banking or mortgages because the credit and mortgages sometimes close boundaries and when it is choked in one place, it is reverberated all over. This for me is the challenge of capitalism”.

The Governor told State House correspondents that two reasons were principally responsible for his trip abroad, which is to honour an invitation of the World Bank to meet delegations of transport managers to share the state experience on BRT which has run successfully for a year as well as share experiences with other cities of the world like Mexico and Curiciba in Brazil.

He said he also stopped by in Chicago United States of America to catch up on outstanding issues from the last administration especially in the health sector by following up plans to scale up health facilities as well as discuss the cardiac, kidney and renal specialists’ hospitals being put in place by the State Government.

He revealed that he also discussed the possibility of assistance being rendered by Nigerians in Chicago who are experienced in that field and have been part of several medical missions to Lagos in the past towards making the exercise a success.

Governor Fashola said he was in Cairo at the instance of state joint venture partners in the issue of power supply through local manufacturing of meters and transformers that will be used to distribute generated power when the deregulation of the energy sector takes effect.

The briefing was witnessed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barrister Opeyemi Bamidele who said that from the interaction with newsmen, it has become evident that the governor’s trip was packed with activities meant to benefit the good people of Lagos State.