Press Releases

We Are Making Steady Progress On All Projects - Fashola
Wishes workers happy May Day

Apr 30, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Thursday assured the people of the state that his administration is making steady progress in all its on-going projects which it has been closely monitoring.

Governor Fashola who stated this while addressing newsmen at the end of his tour of on–going projects in Ikeja, Agege and Ifako Ijaiye Local Government areas of the state added that he is happy to confirm from his personal visits that work at most of the project sites are beyond the 90percent mark.

According to Governor Fashola, ”I am happy to note that a lot of progress have been made from the last time I was here and what is seen now is beyond the 90 percent mark. We are in the final stages of the process. There is no need to revoke any contract at this stage.

Said he: “Progress is being made and this is how we keep a check on contractors to ensure that people get value for their money and that tax payers get the benefit for their taxes. As you saw on the Alakuko road where the contractor has just moved to site about four weeks ago and he has promised that by September when the drains have been concluded, he should be ready to deliver the road”.

“Seriously there has been appreciable progress from most of the work we have gone to see. From the Magistrate Courts in Ogba, we went to the Stadium in Agege and from the Stadium in Agege we went to a few roads. We went to the Old Otta road, the Ekoro road and we are here to see the work going on in the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) Complex. The students hostel is what we have come to look at and also the block for the Clinical Sciences which were at some stages of development when we came here to hand over the BT Pediatric and Diagnostic Centre”, he explained.

He added that: “As for the roadworks also, from the last time I went to Ekoro, we have seen much more progress. The same progress has been made from the last time I went to Old Otta road. I have also observed that the Magistrate Courts in Ogba was just coming out of the ground when we went there in September last year, but has hit the roof level now”.

Asked why the 700 days in office of the administration was not being celebrated in the conventional sense but with work, Governor Fashola said the task ahead demanded so. He declared: “We are not celebrating 700 days, we are not celebrating anything, there is a lot of work to be done and we use this opportunity to once again give feedback to Lagosians about what is going on in their areas and in areas where they don’t normally traverse as a matter of daily travel and to also know that something is going on in other parts of the state”.

He added that two days ago he was in Yaba, today (Thursday) he toured the Lagos West Senatorial District saying: “In another few days you will see us in another part of town. In every part of the state, in every local government something is happening and this is our own project inspection”.

He emphasized that “We don’t just sit down waiting for cold paper work that the contractor has finished his work. We stay with the contractor all through the stages. We know that some of them may encounter problems so it also enables us to assist them to solve problems that they have.

The contractor that had problems with pipelines has overcome them and more progress is being made now but we have moved on beyond that”.

While wishing all Nigerian workers a very happy workers day in advance, Governor Fashola said the Lagos State Government will continue to do a lot more than it is doing now in order to keep the economy going.

He informed that the present administration has put its money where its mouth is by ensuring that it keeps people at work as the several construction companies working all over the state are employing people.

In his words: “Two days ago when I went round to Tejuosho, Oyingbo and all that, I took very clear statistics and that day alone at four sites that I visited there were two thousand people employed by four different companies. Today, I have taken a statistics at some sites. Some had fifty people at work, some had a hundred people, here (LASUCOM) we have I think almost a hundred people”.

The Governor said the State budget as a whole has been targeted at sustaining life and alleviating poverty at all levels, declaring that: “As you are constructing, people are also supplying equipments and cements and iron rods. There is a whole chain of activity. On construction sites, people are supplying food, water, people are ordering plants and equipment trucks and businesses are generally moving”.

While assuring members of the National Union of Textile Workers that he has forwarded their letter to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, he added that the effort to sustain jobs forms an integral part of the concern of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy.

He said successes of policies by governments would be dependent on detailed and critical planning, saying some are already crystallizing like the N200 billion for the support of the agricultural sector and agricultural entrepreneurs.

While admitting that the provision of the funds does not mean the problem of agriculture has been solved, he said it is a right step in the right direction as Lagos has already released the guidelines for accessing the funds.

He promised to continue to lend his support as indeed that of his brother Governors and others to make the country work.

Governor Fashola who was received by appreciative members of the public at all projects visited was accompanied on the tour by members of the State Executive Council.