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Tag: Lagos House

  • Oshodi transformation’ll depict new face of Lagos – Ambode

    Oshodi transformation’ll depict new face of Lagos – Ambode

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday said the plan of his administration to transform Oshodi into a world class transport interchange in the next 13 to 16 months would go a long way to depict the regeneration plan of the State, just as he said that the project would also totally remove all notorious activities associated with the area.

    Governor Ambode, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja during a meeting with key stakeholders on the planned transport interchange, said by the time the project is delivered, the fear of insecurity must have been totally removed from the area, while Lagosians would be treated to the best of facilities compared to any other where in the world.

    The meeting, which was a follow up to an earlier forum organized by the State Government through the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Urban Development to sensitize stakeholders on the project, was attended by leaders of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), market associations and community leaders.

    While pleading with the stakeholders to support the project which is billed to take off on June 1, 2016, Governor Ambode said the interest of market men and women and transporters have been taken care of, as they would make more money compared to what they are currently making.

    He said: “I am so happy that we are working together on this project. What we are doing today is what we have been planning for long and our plan is to transform some notorious areas in the State to places like Victoria Island. Oshodi is known for all kinds of notorious activities and we want to totally do away with that belief and the best way to go about it is to give the people world class facility and make them to live better lives.

    “We want the people in Oshodi to be identified with good and not bad things all the time and that was what made us to decide that the kind of development going on in Victoria Island, Lekki and other places should take place in Oshodi as well. I mean, I find it very disturbing that our children in Oshodi would have to travel to Lekki or Ikeja to have access to good shopping mall. So, what we have decided is to regenerate Oshodi.

    “Now, if we say there are 13 Bus parks all scattered in Oshodi. Can we put these Bus parks in the same place? You know it is not possible for me to bring the drivers or the buses to Oshodi. It would still be the people who are currently operating there. But the plan is that those who are operating there now, we can make life more comfortable for them and they would still be the ones operating the buses.

    “The issue is that when we transform the terminals, what kind of buses should fit into the new look and that is why we are engaging all the stakeholders, especially the transport people. We can take away all these yellow buses and put these other buses but you will be the operators, and all we are only doing is to provide you with world class terminals that you would even be asking is this happening in my lifetime. So, instead of scattering ourselves all over, let all of us be in one very well organized and secured place,” Governor Ambode said.

    Among other plans, according to the Governor, is the provision of about 800 modern buses which would run 24/7 and would convey Lagosians to all parts of the State in a more comfortable arrangement.

    Speaking on the market, Governor Ambode said the new transport interchange would accommodate world class containerized shopping mall with recreation and entertainment facilities, while the existing market men and women in Oshodi would be the same people to be allocated with the shops.

    “I plead for your tolerance because eventually this whole thing is coming back to you but we must have achieved so much. You see, Oshodi is the entrance point from the international Airport and it create the image of where we want to go and once we are able to create that image, nobody will ever remember Oshodi in their head for anything bad. The only thing that would be left is for us to ensure that the road from Oshodi to international Airport meets international standard and by that, we would have regenerated that part of Lagos for good,” Governor Ambode said.

    Responding, Lagos State NURTW Chairman, Mr. Tajudeen Agbede commended the Governor for the initiative, and expressed the readiness of his members to support the government to make the project a reality.

    Also, a market leader in the area, Mr. Lateef Tajudeen thanked Governor Ambode for the concretized Brown Street in Oshodi, but pleaded that their members should be carried along in the allocation of the shops in the shopping mall.

    On his part, Managing Director of Planet Projects Limited, the contractor partnering with government to deliver the interchange, Mr. Biodun Otunola assured that the firm will meet up with the scheduled time.

    He said the project would gulp about $70 million, adding that several financial institutions have expressed interest to be part of the project.

  • Photo: Microsoft chief visits Ambode

    Photo: Microsoft chief visits Ambode

     

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right), with President, Microsoft International, Mr. Jean-Philippe Coutois during a courtesy visit to him by Microsoft International, at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday.
    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right), with President, Microsoft International, Mr. Jean-Philippe Coutois during a courtesy visit to him by Microsoft International, at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday.
    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd right), Commissioner for Science & Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi; President, Microsoft International, Mr. Jean-Philippe Coutois; Executive Business Director, Microsoft International, Mr. Cassey Macgee and Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr. Wale Oluwo during a courtesy visit to the Governor by Microsoft International, at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday.
    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd right), Commissioner for Science & Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi; President, Microsoft International, Mr. Jean-Philippe Coutois; Executive Business Director, Microsoft International, Mr. Cassey Macgee and Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr. Wale Oluwo during a courtesy visit to the Governor by Microsoft International, at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday.
    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), in a group photograph with Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr. Wale Oluwo; Executive Business Director, Microsoft International, Mr. Cassey Macgee; President, Microsoft International, Mr. Jean-Philippe Coutois; Commissioner for Science & Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi; Solicitor General/Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Funlola Odunlami and Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Mustapha Akinkunmi during a courtesy visit to the Governor by Microsoft International, at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday.
    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), in a group photograph with Commissioner for Energy & Mineral Resources, Mr. Wale Oluwo; Executive Business Director, Microsoft International, Mr. Cassey Macgee; President, Microsoft International, Mr. Jean-Philippe Coutois; Commissioner for Science & Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi; Solicitor General/Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Funlola Odunlami and Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Mustapha Akinkunmi during a courtesy visit to the Governor by Microsoft International, at the Lagos House, Ikeja on Monday.

  • Lagos House takes up councils over 2015, 2016 budgets

    As part of its efforts to ensure good governance and accountability at the grassroots, three standing committees of Lagos State House of Assembly are currently holding talks with officials of the 57 local councils in the state on the performance of 2015 Budget and their proposals for the 2016 Budget, reports Oziegbe Okoeki

    IN its quest to ensure a proper and seamless budget process in Lagos State, three standing committees of the Lagos State House of Assembly: committees on budget and economic planning, local government administration and public account (local), led by its joint chairman, Hon. Rotimi Olowo, have been holding interface and discussion sessions on 2015 and 2016 budgets with officials of the 57 local councils in the state at the Assembly complex.

    While shedding light on the ongoing interface with local government officials over the budget performance for 2015 and 2016 budget proposals, Olowo said it became inevitable in order to engender good governance, probity and accountability.

    Speaking on the basis of the meetings, Olowo said: “There is no way you can talk about budget for 2016 without talking about 2015 performance, because 2016 is predicated on 2015 performance. We look at what they have done vis-à-vis what is coming in from the Federation Account and from tax. And we look at their performance vis-à-vis what is the ratio of capital to overhead to give us an insight on whether they have actually added value to their respective local governments.”

    Besides, he said, the peculiarities and the challenges Nigeria is facing today, has also made it very compelling for state governments to be ingenious in the way and manner they disburse funds.

    “We are trying to look at what is the real income coming from statutory allocation and what proportion of that must be spent on capital expenditure because all these while, we appreciate that more money is going to the recurrent to the detriment of capital expenditure. And more so, that they are trying to be on the same page with the state government by adopting MTBF -Medium Term Budget Framework.

    “So, what we are trying to do from our end is that, okay, ab initio, what is the total liability standing against the account of the local government, be it recurrent or capital expenditure? And what proportion of that is budgeted for, because over time, we’ve come to appreciate the fact that the outstanding debt is so huge that they don’t pay and they will embark on new projects. That will only tell you that many projects will become moribund. But if certain proportion, let’s say between 20 and 25 per cent of their revenue after they must have taken off personnel cost, is earmarked to service outstanding debt, that means in two-three years, they will be able to pay all outstanding debts and then all those projects would have been completed as against those that have been abandoned over the years. That is tantamount to waste. Jobs given in 2000-2001 and nobody is paying for it, obviously the contractor will be away and when that project is not completed, that means initial payment made becomes waste. So, those are the things we are guiding against.”

    In his assessment of the 2015 budget performance, the lawmaker said the only funding was the major constrain.

    “You know personnel cost, Lagos State has said it that we don’t want to lay off staff, and we don’t want to rationalise. The bulk of the staff in local government, many of them are redundant, doing nothing. But then when you face the reality of the moment, you know you cannot do otherwise than to accommodate them. But you know that has implication on the revenue of the local government, so by and large they’ve not been able to do great job because of paucity of funds. But what we are looking at is that we want to make overtures to state government at ensuring that whatever is due to them is paid timely, so that they can use it for capital expenditure and we are going to tie all grant to purely capital expenditure, no grant should be used to pay overhead or pay personnel.

    Explaining in details the process of monitoring execution or implementation, he said “there is a committee we call local government administration, it sees to the day-to-day oversight of the local governments, then the public account (local) will use local government Auditor-Generals’ report, if there are any queries, based on that they will be called to the House and they will use that to admonish them and if need be punish them according to the extant law.

    The lawmaker who acknowledged that Lagosians expect so much from the government and the councils, was however quick to add that the Ambode-led government is doing his bits.

    “The intervention of the state is not going to be limited to construction of roads. Maybe at intervals any money accruing to the state in support of local government he will come up with that.”

    On what the joint committee is doing on the issue of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Olowu said, “without revenue, budget cannot perform and IGR is an integral part of that. We have told the local governments that their IGR must be on upward swing. We told many of them to go back and give us a workable IGR projection that will make them to work; because leakages have to be blocked; there must be accountability and we must have proof and be able to track the budget for assessment and evaluation,” he said.

  • Lagos House Speaker: Will zoning count?

    Lagos House Speaker: Will zoning count?

    Oziegbe Okeoki looks at the chances of those vying to become Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly

    As the race for who will emerge the Speaker of the eighth Lagos Assembly gradually hot up one question that keeps popping up again and again is, ‘will zoning be a major factor in the emergence of the next Speaker?’ The question becomes relevant because of series of developments that had occurred in the state since the inception of the Fourth Republic.

    Until the seventh Assembly, the position of the Speaker has always been through zoning. There are three senatorial districts in the state- Lagos East, West and Central. So which ever zone produces the governor and the deputy governor, the third zone automatically produces the speaker of the state Assembly for the sake of balancing. If this trend had continued the question above would have been irrelevant.

    But that principle was jettisoned in the current Assembly. Under the current dispensation, the incumbent governor, Babatunde Fashola is from Lagos Central while his Deputy Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire is from Lagos West, but the Speaker, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, though in his first two terms came from Lagos East, but in 2011 he came from Lagos West having contested and won the Ikeja 1 Constituency seat, the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Kolawole Taiwo is also from Lagos West. This development may have put paid to zoning of the position of the speaker.

    This development, coupled with the emerging configuration of the eighth Assembly, which many watchers say is peculiar, has necessitated the question whether zoning would be adopted by the party leadership in picking the speaker of the next Assembly. If zoning is to apply then it follows that Lagos Central would produce the speaker since the governor-elect, Akinwumi Ambode is from Lagos East while the Deputy governor-elect Idiat Adebule is from Lagos West.

    What makes the eighth Assembly peculiar is that the configuration is very different from other dispensations since 1999 that the Fourth Republic commenced. For the first time in the current democratic dispensation, Lagos Assembly will be having eight opposition lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House.

    In the sixth Assembly, PDP was only able to secure three seats which later reduced to two when the then Minority Leader, Hodewu Suru Avoseh from Badagry 2 defected to the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). There was only one PDP member in the fifth Assembly. The current Assembly is not an all APC affair. The opposition has never had as much as eight members in the Lagos Assembly.

    Another issue to consider is that for a House of 40 members, 20 are returnees while 20 are new, the Assembly would therefore need a speaker who has the ability, patience, tact, innovation and initiative as well as plenty of wisdom and understanding to be able to blend the new comers with the old hands to ensure harmony.

    Rethinking zoning

    Some are of the opinion that since zoning did not apply in the emergence of the speaker of the current Assembly, the same should apply when the House is inaugurated in June.

    According to a ranking lawmaker who craved anonymity, “This is because for the first in the current democratic dispensation, the Assembly is having the highest number of opposition lawmakers and  it needs a matured, experienced, intelligent and cool headed person to handle that position. Eight might be a small number compared to 32 APC members” he said, “but you never can know the stuff the eight opposition members are made of and that is why we need a speaker who knows his onion to be able to handle any unforeseen situation and navigate every booby trap. Somebody who will maintain the current harmony and stability of the House”, he said.

    As at the last count not less than nine of the returning/ranking members have either showed interest openly for the coveted seat or are working underground to push their candidature. There are only three returning lawmakers from Lagos Central that would be favoured with the zoning principle; others from the zone are new members and so are not qualified to vie for the seat. The three ranking members are Moshood Oshun (Mainland 2), Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti Osa 2) and Wasiu Sanni Eshilokun (Lagos Island 1). They have all indicated interest in the seat.

    Other ranking members who though not from Lagos Central who have their eyes on speaker’s seat are: from Lagos West: Adefunmilayo Tejuoso (Mushin 1); Mudashiru Obasa, (Agege 1) and Lanre Ogunyemi (Ojo 2). From Lagos East are: Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1) and Rotimi Abiru (Somolu 2).

    The contenders

    Eshilokun

    He was a member of the House between 1999 and 2003, if he scales through the legal suit hanging on his head concerning his candidature for the House seat for Lagos Island 1 Constituency, instituted by the current occupier of the seat, Hakeem Masha, it will be his second time in the House and that makes him a ranking member. Since he left the Assembly in 2003, he has been elected twice as chairman of Lagos Island Local Government Area and also served as the Secretary of the Lagos chapter of APC.

    Even before the elections, there was speculation that he was coming with the intent of heading the legislature as the speaker.

    Oshun

    The representative of Lagos Mainland 2 Constituency will be coming for a third term in the eighth Assembly. In his first term he was chairman, committee on transportation and currently he is the chairman, committee on local government administration and chieftaincy affairs. Of the three returnees from Lagos Central, he is the most experienced and a third timer. If the party leadership decides to follow the zoning principle being the highest ranking officer from that zone, he might clinch the seat.

    Tejuoso

    She will be one of the longest serving lawmakers in the House in the eighth Assembly. Tejuoso is in her fourth term. A lawyer by profession, she is one of the lawmakers who knows her onions and is always very active in debate on the floor of the House. She served briefly as a Deputy Speaker in the sixth Assembly.

    Obasa

    The Agege 1 representative is also a lawyer and will be coming back for the fourth time. He is currently the chairman, committee on economic planning and budget and has also served as councillor in Agege Local Government before coming to the House. He is an experienced lawmaker and also very active on the floor of the house during debates.

    Agunbiade

    If you want to talk of the brightest and the most articulate, intelligent, versatile and dynamic lawmaker in the Lagos Assembly, definitely it is the Ikorodu 1 Constituency representative, Sanai Agunbiade, a lawyer by profession. He is somebody who has displayed so much passion for the job of lawmaking and is recorded as the lawmaker who has moved the highest number of motions in his eight years in the Assembly.

    If he picks the slot, judging by his antecedents, and his reputation with his colleagues he certainly will make a difference.

    Abiru

    Abiru represents Somolu 2 constituency and he is currently the Deputy Chief Whip. He is the only returning principal officer and has thus been exposed to the workings as well as the demands of the leadership.

  • Super Eagles get rousing welcome in Lagos

    Super Eagles get rousing welcome in Lagos

    Lagos residents on Friday gave the Super Eagles a rousing welcome as they arrived at the Domestic Terminal 1 of Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, popularly known as the General Aviation Terminal.

    The Super Eagles on Sunday defeated the Stallions of Burkina Faso 1-0 to win the 29th edition of the African Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the players were in Lagos at the invitation of the Lagos State Government who will host the team for winning the competition.

    Passengers and workers at the airport, including airline workers, security personnel and airport cab operators, trooped out in large numbers to welcome the team.

    People of different vocations hailed the Super Eagles for their brilliant performance at the tournament.

    Some described the light rain that heralded the team’s arrival in Lagos as a sign that “God approved their superlative performances.”

    Some members of the crowd took photographs of the players on their cell phones as they filed out from the arrival hall of the airport into the buses that took them away to the Lagos House, Ikeja.

    “We are proud of you for doing Nigeria proud in South Africa,” said an elated football enthusiast.

    There were some policemen at the terminal to ensure that the players and the officials had a smooth passage from the airport into the buses.

    Their motorcade was led out of the airport by men and officials of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) around 1:30 pm.