Arepo was conceived to be ‘Fleet Street’

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

FORMER Ogun State governor Aremo Olusegun Osoba has said his administration had good plans for the Arepo community in Obafemi/Owode Local Government Area of the state at its conception.

He spoke during the turning of the sod for the construction the secondary school in the Arepo Journalists Estate Phase.

He said his administration’s  plan was to make the area like Fleet Street, London, United Kingdom.

“We all know why Fleet Street is so called. Fleet Street is where you have newspaper houses and that was why I gave land to Punch; and I was going to give to other newspapers because that was the idea. My vision for this area, then, was to do a thorough town planning of all the area up to “Long Bridge” both left and right and leave the Green Zone. It was supposed to be an area for golf,” the ex-governor said.

Osoba, who explained that all the water plain areas around the long bridge were not meant to be for residential, regretted that upon his exit, subsequent administrations re-allocated the area for other purposes.

He also revealed that the idea was to make the plain areas, green or buffer zone, and develop part of Arepo up to Simawa.

“Journalists Estate, Arepo and all of you here are vital and your contribution to the government of Ogun State is immense. I say this categorically because a lot of you work in Lagos. The taxes that are deducted by Lagos State are paid to Ogun State and your IGR is to Ogun State and when you ask for government development, demand it as a priority.

‘’You have paid your tax and it is supposed to be used in developing your community. I can assure you, the records are there of how much the people in Arepo, Ibafo, Arigbabuwo, Asese, Pakuro, everything combined to Mowe paid in taxes. What you people have paid is to civic responsibility,” Osoba said.

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The Chairman, Journalists Estate Residents Association (JERDA), Mrs Olufunke Fadugba, acknowledged the foresight of Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, who she said when the estate had fewer than 10 residents  build the first school with a borehole without any strings attached.

According to her, the new building is to meet the needs of the school.

She said: “We came on board in March 2018 and to date we have worked on the estate civic centre to roofing stage after it had been abandoned for four years. Our hope is to  roof it in the new year either as an estate or through joint efforts of some residents. Equally, we put in place a drainage system on the main road to de-flood the estate.  This executive also remodelled the JIS to upgrade its infrastructure.”