Category: South West

Community leaders, residents and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Kwara South Senatorial District have hailed the administration of Governor AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq for the rehabilitation of township and rural roads.

They listed the benefits of rural roads constructed and rehabilitated in the last three years.

Speaking with The Nation, the people said communities in the zone are now opened to socio-economic and tourism opportunities.

The people, who said that the hitherto bad nature of the rural roads caused health challenges such as catarrh, cough and asthma, among other ailments, added that they had heaved a sigh of relief with the asphalted roads.

Speaking about the completed 2.3 kilometres Oro-Ago-Oyate asphalt road project in Ifelodun Local Government, the Deputy Chairman of NURTW in the area, Oladiran Aweda, said the project had forced down prices of farm produce.

A new Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) has been appointed for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos State.

He is Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, the former INEC REC in Ogun State.

Mrs. Adenike Oriowo, INEC Public Affairs Officer in Lagos State, confirmed to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos that the new commissioner had reported for duty.

She said Agbaje assumed duty at the state headquarters of the commission in Yaba after Mr. Sam Olumekun, the former REC, handed over to him.

Osun State Government, through the Civic Engagement Centre, yesterday unveiled its feedback website for easy access to government and its programmes by the residents.

The Special Adviser to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on Civic Engagement, Mr. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, said the website was designed to deepen and afford residents the opportunity of direct contact with the government through modern technology.

Oyintiloye, who noted that the platform would further bridge the gaps between the government and the people, said residents and non- resident would also have the opportunity to express their opinion about government’s programmes and how it was affecting them.

He said the web platform was so designed in a way that residents could drop their enquiry or complaints, adding that they can call the government whenever the need arises on the quick response dedicated lines and email address on it.

Oyintiloye, who noted that it was not possible for the government to reach out to all residents individually, said they could reach the government and in return the government could reach them via the platform.

“The website is designed in such a way that people can drop their complaints and enquiry for government’s attention and can also call the government in any of the quick response dedicated lines and email address provided on the platform.

“It will serve as a feedback mechanism between the government and the people in the area of development as well as government policies and programmes.

“Through the website, activities of the government, especially in the rural areas, will be further projected to the outside world.

“It will also create an avenue for partnership with many multi-nationals and NGOs with interest in the improved living condition for rural dwellers,” he said.

Oyintiloye, who thanked the governor for establishing the centre, said it had been interfacing with the people across social strata in a bid to promote social democratic ideals through inclusive and participatory governance.

The Chairman of Osun State Universal Basic Education, Mr. Israel Famurewa, unveiling the website, said it would bridge the gap between the government and the residents.

Famurewa, who hailed the centre for creating the website, said it would enable citizens to be aware of government programmes and events.

The Director General of Bureau of Social Services, Mr. Richard Tinubu,

said the website would open the state to a new world.

Tinubu, who noted that engaging with people was important in any democratic setting, said the website would enable residents to interface with the government.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries and the lawmaker representing Lagos East, Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru, has urged tradesmen and artisans in the senatorial district to avail themselves of the N300million Lagos East Constituency Intervention Revolving Loan at a very concessional six per cent per annum interest rate.

The senator disclosed this when he met the Lagos East leadership of the Lagos State Council of Tradesmen and Artisans (LASCOTA) at his constituency office in Ikorodu.

He said enabling affordable loans for businesses was the only sustainable way of promoting prosperity in the society, adding: “This is real empowerment.”

Abiru urged LASCOTA to encourage its  members in the Lagos East to apply for the loan next month.

The Lagos East Chairperson of LACOSTA, Mrs. Funmilola David, thanked the senator for the achievements he had recorded in the last 13 months.

Oyo State Government has described the continuous harassment of its officials by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as unconstitutional and unacceptable.

It said the assault was being contested in a court of competent jurisdiction.

The government spoke yesterday through the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatunbosun.

Apparently reacting to the recent arrest, detention and subsequent release of the Accountant-General, the government accused the anti-graft agency of mounting pressure on its officials to provide documents regarding disbursements and expenditure of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, Contingencies Fund and Security Vote lawfully approved and passed into Appropriation Law of the state by the House of Assembly.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday visited the Olubadan- designate, Dr. Lekan Balogun.

He promised to prostrate in obeisance to the soon-to-be installed monarch on his next visit.

Obasanjo, who arrived at Balogun’s Alarere home without an entourage, was led by the former Chairman, Ibadan North-East Local Government, Mr. Gbenga Adewusi.

He was said to have joined the monarch on the dinning table, after which they retired to a corner for a private discussion.

It was gathered that the private chat did not last for more than five minutes, after which the ex-president and his host exchanged banters. It was while leaving that Obasanjo reminded the monarch that he had not prostrated for him, promising to do so next time.

Reacting to the visit, Balogun, who was a senator during Obasanjo’s first term as president (1999-2003), said it was a meeting of brothers.

He recalled that the former president sent emissaries to him a few weeks ago to congratulate him.

Balogun declined comments on their private discussion.

He said: “The visit was short, but it was fruitful.”

LAGOS State Head of Service (HoS) Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola has urged public servants to follow due process and keep records of their documents while in service.

He said this is necessary to avoid delay in the processing and payment of their retirement benefits.

Muri-Okunola made this known yesterday in Alausa, Ikeja at a sensitisation webinar on the newly- revised Lagos State Public Service Handbook, produced by the Post Service Directorate of the Public Service Department of the Office of the Head of Service.

The HoS, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office, Mr. Samson Ajibade, said retiring officers should plan ahead what could sustain them as a form of additional income after leaving service.

A representative from the Lagos State Civil Service Commission, the Director, Admin and Human Resource (Discipline and Exit), Mrs. Olaopin Grace, advised public servants to keep their records and update them, to facilitate prompt processing of their retirement benefits.

Construction will begin on the Badagry Deep Sea Port in June if ratification is received from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) next month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said.

He spoke yesterday at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) Auditorium in Topo, Badagry at a stakeholders’ meeting and community engagement on the project.

The governor described the project as a multi-level opportunity for progress and development.

“We want to push development to this axis,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu reiterated the government’s readiness to compensate residents for economic losses on buildings, ancestral land, farms and sites.

He expressed confidence that the deliberations would help to fashion out reasons to forge ahead with the project.

Commissioner for Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives Mrs. Lola Akande noted that the project formed part of initiatives to transform Lagos to a 21st Century economy.

The Chief Executive Officer of Badagry Port Development Ltd, Didi Ndiomu, said the port would include terminals for containerised and non-containerised cargo, dredged access channel, tuning circle, port basin, anchorage area, shore line protections, an offshore supply base, refined product import jetties, industrial and logistics zone and supporting transport infrastructure.

He said the port would be located at Gberefu in Badagry, adding that it would cover 1,103 hectares, 623 of which would be dedicated to port activities, including an 18-metre draft and 4km quay, making it a port with the deepest draft and widest berths in sub-Saharan Africa.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved the purchase of three new 500 KVA generators to boost power supply at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, made this known in a statement.

The Nation learnt that the power situation had become a challenge in recent time, as the Mainland Independent Power Project became epileptic because of the limited supply of gas to its turbines.

This has made the hospital to use its generators, but it has to ration it.

The CMD said Sanwo-Olu, in his magnanimity, had stepped into the situation by approving the purchase of three new 500 KVA generators for the hospital, adding that it would be installed this week.

He thanked people for bearing with the hospital during the power outage and assured them that efforts were on to restore electricity across the hospital.