The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lagos

  • Lagos accuses Federal Govt of disobeying Supreme Court

    Lagos accuses Federal Govt of disobeying Supreme Court

    The Lagos State government has accused the Federal Government of flouting a Supreme Court verdict by putting up the implementation of tourism projects across  the states.

    The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr Ade Ipaye, said the federal government violated the Supreme Court verdict delivered last year in a case between the Attorney-General of the Federation and Attorney-General of Lagos.

    According to him, the Minister of Culture and Tourism on March 4, informed the National Assembly that the Federal Government required N25 billion to implement the country’s Tourism Master-plan.

    The Director-General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Ipaye noted, informed the press about the tourism plans to be implemented in the states.

    According to Ipaye, the moves by the Minister of Culture and Tourism and NTDC Director-General were a negation of the Supreme Court order.

    Last July 19, the Supreme Court held that the Federal Government’s power on tourism matters, as specified in Item 6(d) of the Exclusive Legislative List (1999 Constitution), was limited to the regulation of tourist traffic’.

    “By this judgment, the Supreme Court has interpreted this as covering only the entry and exit of international visitors through visa and immigration regulations”. The Supreme Court, he further stated  concluded that regulation of tourism in Nigeria was a residual matter within the jurisdiction of state governments.

    Ipaye  quoted from the lead judgment delivered by Justice Galadima, where the Justice of the Supreme Court said:

    “In my view the Dictionary definition of “Tourist’ and ‘Traffic’ would accord to my own understanding of simple and natural meaning of the two words. The words ‘tourist traffic’ used in Item 60(d) of the second schedule of the Constitution, alludes to the ingress and egress of tourists from other countries. These are international visitors or foreigners.

    “In the light of the foregoing, the contention of the plaintiff that matters pertaining to the regulation, registration, classification, grading, of hotels, motels, guests houses, restaurants, travel and tour agencies, and other hospitality and tourism related establishment are matters within the Exclusive Legislative List, and cannot be sustained.

    “In effect, the Federal Government lacks the constitutional vires to make laws outside its legislative competence which are by implication residue matters for the state Assembly: the National Assembly cannot, in the exercise of its powers to enact some specific laws, take the liberty to counfer power or authority on the Federal Government or any of its agencies to engage in matters which ordinarily ought to be the responsibility of a state government or agencies.

    “Such pretext cannot be allowed to endure to the Federal Government or its agencies so as to enable them encroach upon the exclusive constitutional authority conferred on a state under its residual legislative power.

    Ipaye pointed out that tourism and cultural festivals that take in place in Lagos State, such as the Adamu Orisa, Black Heritage Festival, Lagos Carnival and New Year countdown were promoted and funded by Lagos State Government without any input from the Federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture or its agency.

    He expressed the fear that money allocated from the federal purse to support festivals may end up with states perceived as friendly, to the detriment of others.

    He urged the Federal Government to pay more attention to the Police and Prison Authorities, adding that poor funding of both federal institutions was putting pressure on state security and adversely affecting the criminal justice system.

    States such as Lagos, Ipaye noted, were already spending billions of naira to supplement federal agencies on security.

    He, therefore, advised the government to focus more on its core responsibilities instead of allocating funds to tourism, which is a local and residual matter for states.

  • Lagos decries allocation of wetlands

    Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment Tunji Bello has blamed the Federal Government for indiscriminate allocation of land in the state, especially parcels of land around natural water channels and under high tension wires, saying such acts have grave effects communities.

    He cited the alleged approval given to some land owners at the Osborne Estate, Ikoyi, which the state said was threatening lives and properties in and around the estate.

    Bello, who spoke during an inspection of Osborne Estate, Ikoyi, regretted that the Federal Government allegedly approved building development on natural water channel, which the state government had preserved for safety and ecology.

    Accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Drainage Service, Bello gave reasons on the need for the demolition of such structure on the natural water channel, since it constitutes threats to lives. The construction, he stressed, has obstructed the state’s natural wetland in the Osborne Foreshore Estate, adding that it is appalling that the Federal Government approved such a place for a developer.

    “We have high tension wires on this channel. We also have wetland, which absorbs water when there is rise in water level. This is a surprise to us. This is a federal estate. There is no doubt about that. But for the reasons we have given, how can the Federal Government approve this kind of project knowing its grave effects on lives? The developer cannot continue the project. It is a disaster in waiting. It must be stopped,” Bello said.

  • Lagos opens access for public bidding of contracts

    The Lagos State Government has created opportunities that would enable the average residents have open access to bid for government contracts.

    The general manger of the state public procurement agency, Mr. Akin Onimole, disclosed this when a delegation from the Niger State government who are in the state to understudy the Lagos procurement reforms, visited the office of the state head of service, Mrs. Josephine Williams.

    Onimole stated that until now, there were limited opportunities for residents to bid for government contracts, adding that with the implementation of the state procurement reforms, the treasure of open bidding will be greatly enlarged.

    “Beginning from April, there will be many advertisements and the average Lagosians will have more opportunities to bid. Prior to the implementation, there were limited opportunities for open competitive bidding, but with the advent of implementation, the treasure for open bidding has been greatly enlarged.”

    Onimole further added that the development would promote accountability, transparency and encourage best practices in the civil service.

    He said the Niger State delegation stand to learn a lot from the Lagos State experience, noting that a similar visit was paid to the Federal Bureau of Procurement by the Lagos State to share from its experiences and challenges.

    The leader of the Niger State delegation, Mr. Siraj Said, said the visit was important considering that the state recently set up its procurement agency.

  • Photo : Petrol tanker on two cars

    Photo : Petrol tanker on two cars

    A petrol tanker on two vehicles spilling its contents on the Iyana Isolo bridge, Lagos Saturday morning
    Accident involving a  petrol tanker on two vehicles spilling its contents on the Iyana Isolo bridge, Lagos Saturday morning

    PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE

  • This is Lagos

    This is Lagos

    For Lagos, it has turned out that there is no short cut to transforming a city, except a shot of determination and commitment. Coming from a derogatory tag of a dirty city, Lagos, known to its admirers as the city of aquatic splendour, is gradually regaining its lost glory and wearing beautiful and modern looks.
    To underscore the transformation, a Nigerian neurologist, who had been away from the country for over three decades, returned recently and was shocked at the level of transformation the city he left behind had undergone.
    Michael Egbejumi-David, who was born in Lagos, had this to say about his shock: “I was born in Lagos and I grew up in the state. But I went to secondary school in what was then called Bendel State. What I think of Lagos in particular is the Lagos I retained in my mind in the 1970s. But the then Lagos disconnects from the reality I see now and what I had in my mind as Lagos because I was not coming home as frequently as I should.
    “I think I am sort of paying for that in some sense. For instance, I find Lagos overwhelming now; it just seems too much. So, I am having to re-learn, to re-adjust and I found Lagos to be far bigger than I remember from the 70s.”
    Egbejumi-David is not the only one to have expressed pleasant surprise at the good turn-around in Lagos’ fortune. Adejoke Akinlola has lived in the United Kingdom for about 10 years now.
    She was in Nigeria for the first time last year after staying away for a long period. Her friend, with whom she would stay with, lives in the Lekki area of the city. And from the airport, Adejoke kept marvelling and asking her friend one particular question: ‘ah! This place has changed. When did they do this?’
    Each time she asked the question, her friend, Chioma, would simply smile and remain silent. As their car drove through the city and approached the Lekki toll gate, Adejoke could no longer contain her surprise, as she retorted: “Lagos has really changed. Everywhere is wearing new looks and the roads are good.”
    From Oshodi to Ikeja, Marina to Lekki and other choice places across the city, testimonies are flowing in everyday over the new-found hope for a better Lagos. And the state government, in partnership with private organisations, is in a race against time to ensure that the trend continues and extends to all the nooks and crannies of the city.
    Though many have agreed that much still has to be done, especially in the suburbs, to completely make Lagos the dream city, the consensus has, however, been that Lagos is gradually regaining its lost glory, with the rate of transformation going on in places like the Central Lagos, Ikeja, Ajah and Oshodi, among others.
    Particularly interesting are the Marina and Lekki axis of the city. The roads are well-paved with sidewalks and drainage channels on both sides. They are kept clean both night and day by sweepers who run double shifts to make sure that the roads remain clean.
    Paul Okonkwo was born in the old Maroko area of Lagos. Together with his family, Paul was uprooted from the area by the military government in the mid-80s. He later moved abroad to seek greener pastures. Recently, Paul returned to Nigeria and was curious to see his birth place once again. But much as he tried, he could not locate the exact place where his old community used to be. “This is serious. Most of the constructions are very new to me. Despite being born in the area, I was not able to identify any particular old landmark. This is really beautiful.”
    At night, the streets glow with beautiful solar-powered street lights. Aside giving the city beautiful images at night, the lights also keep men of the night at bay, giving night crawlers the opportunity to reclaim the long-lost night life that made Lagos the envy of other cities in the 60s and 70s.
    Beautifully constructed flyovers now adorn major highways across the state. Unlike in times past, the physically-challenged people are not left out of the consideration in the construction of the new flyovers, with special area built to accommodate their wheelchairs.
    Explaining the trend in a recent interview, the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said: “Lagos residents are living witnesses to the state’s urban renewal project. That is what the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola has been doing in the last three years to overhaul Lagos inner-city roads. It is a multi-pronged strategy designed to make domestic trips enjoyable in the metropolis; drain water off the streets when it rains heavily and provide other road users, especially pedestrians, walkways in order to reduce cases of accidents.”
    The transformation actually started in 1999 when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which had the arduous task of re-building the ruins left behind by 16 years of military inerregnum, laid a solid foundation for the mega status of Nigeria’s commercial capital city. It is upon this foundation which Mr Fashola, who was former governor’s Chief of Staff during the second term (2003 – 2007), has been building with incredible vigour.
    To an average resident of Lagos, the Oshodi area of the city used to connote fear and danger, as street urchins, also known as area boys, armed robbers, pick-pockets and other men and women of shady characters reigned supreme.
    Their law was the order, irrespective of the time of the day. Every day, the activities of the area boys caused traffic gridlocks in Oshodi, leaving motorists stranded for hours. It was also common for unexplained fights to break out, leaving unsuspecting and innocent passers-by at the receiving end.
    But all that is now history. Oshodi, the once notorious hotbed of Lagos, has assumed a new status. With a large part of the bad spots reclaimed and turned into a beautiful park- the Heritage Park- by the state government, Oshodi has gone from an area noted for cult wars, bag snatchers and armed robbery to a tourists’ destination where you can take your family to for a weekend treat. Welcome to new Lagos!

  • Lagos moves to protect consumers

    Lagos moves to protect consumers

    The Lagos State government has reiterated its determination to tackle headlong the issues of consumer rights protection in the state, its Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, has said.

    Represented by the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Commerce and Industry, Hon Oluseye Oladejo at the Lagos Consumer forum organised by the Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON) in conjunction with the state government, she said protecting consumers is one of the primary duties of the government.

    She said: “As a government, it is our mandate to guarantee the welfare of the citizenry while also promoting the economic development of the rights of consumers to ensure that they get value for money spent on goods and services.”

    According to her, if consumer rights are protected, it would bring economic development to the state.

    “This would no doubt sustain production activities, boost the gross domestic product (GDP), guarantee employment and ultimately engender economic development of the state,” she said.

    The deputy governor said the forum was meant to discuss consumers’ rights in the telecoms industry.

    “The creation of a platform of this nature where consumer rights issues in the telecoms sector is being examined with a view to ascertaining the extent of the level of abuse, exploitation and options available for redress is a step in the right direction,” she said.

    The Lagos Consumer Forum streamlined the consumers’ day to press for value for money in telecoms service.

    According to the deputy governor, the essence of the modification of the theme is meant to address the immediate needs of the people of the state and the country at large.

    “The theme has been modified to ‘Value for Money in Telecoms Services’ in order to address our immediate consumer rights challenges in the state,” she said.

    Mrs Orelope-Adefulire said to show the state government’s commitment to protecting consumers rights, a bill on Consumer Protection Agency had been passed into law.

    “To underscore the seriousness of the state government in protecting the rights of our people especially as they relate to consumer issues and to ensure that they get correct value for their money on purchases, the state governor has signed into law the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency Bill,” she said.

    Speaking on ‘Consumer Issue in Telecoms,’ president of CAFON, Ms Sola Salako said the consumer rights to quality service from the telecom providers has been violated by the telecom services providers.

    She said the five-point agenda of the telecoms which are to provide consumer with access to an affordable and reliable service, provide consumer with fair contracts explained in clear, complete and acceptable and accessible language, provide consumers with fair and transparent billing, provide consumers with security and power over their own information, listen and respond to consumers complaint have not been met by the telcos.

    Ms Salako said the telecoms sector must provide the consumer with better service.

    “Consumers deserve better services from the telecoms; the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as a regulator must do better than fines to ensure compliance, consumers must be discerning in signing up for any telecoms services (voice or data) and telecoms service providers must realise communication is not just business, it is an essential service,” she added.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr Wale Raji, in his welcome address, said the forum was meant to address issues in the sector and proffer solutions to consumer rights violations.

    ‘’This forum is meant to address some of the critical consumer rights that are being infringed upon on daily basis by service providers in the telecoms sector. Some of these issues are unsolicited text messages, high drop call rates, poor customer service, high call tariff, exploitation of consumers through lotteries and privacy issues,’’ he added.

    He urged Lagosians to seek redress with the state’s Consumer Protection Committee whenever their rights are trampled upon.

  • Praises for Lagos vision project

    Parents have praised the ongoing eye care project of the Lagos State government which has provided a platform for pupils to be diagnosed of eye problems in school and treated free of charge in general hospitals.

    Their wards are already benefiting from the 185 vision corridors that have been installed in public primary schools which are used to screen pupils of eye defects.

    Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola formally launched the state’s Expanded School Eye Health Programme (ESEHP) project at the Olusosun Primary School, Ojota penultimate week and announced plans to install vision corridors in all 1001 state-owned primary schools.

    Thanks to the vision corridor in her son’s school, Mrs Esther Komolafe said he was screened and recommended for treatment.

    “My son had bad eye sight. But since they gave him eye glasses and drugs, he now sees better,” she said.

    Another parent simply called Mrs Nwobi said her daughter, Favour, had problems reading prior to her eyes being screened at school.

    “My daughter no dey see well well; so she no dey read well well or write well well because of her eyes. But when dem check her eye for school, she go hospital and now she dey see and read well well,” she said in Pidgin English.

    Fashola counseled parents to do their part by ensuring their wards are well fed, and the home rid of dangerous objects that could affect the eyes.

    “The job does not stop here. School children have told us nutrition is vital so parents should note that. They should keep away sharp objects from the home. It is a partnership between the school and the home. As experts have told us, 80 per cent of learning at that stage is visual. So if the children cannot see, they are 80 per cent deficient in their learning,” he said.

    Commissioner for Health Dr Jide Idris said the ministry has trained 2002 teachers in all public schools to screen pupils using the vision corridors. He added that all 1001 schools have been equipped with the Vision Screening Kits while 91,266 pupils have been screened by the teachers with no fewer than 166 given glasses and another 9,089 referred to secondary eye units so far.

    On her part, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, described ESEHP as one of government’s initiatives to pre-empt any health difficulty that may affect the academic performance of the pupils.

    She implored teachers and pupils to take advantage of the programme which is being carried out by professionals who would normally had charged a lot of money for the treatment.

     

  • Breaking: CBN office on fire

    Lagos office of the Central Bank of Nigeria is reportedly on fire.

    The cause of the incident which started at about 5:30pm could not be ascertained as at press time.

    Firefighters and other emergency agencies are said to have arrived at the scene.

  • Vehicles plunge into Lagos canal

    Two vehicles have plunged into a canal in front of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The accidents brought to four, the number of such occurrences in the canal in the past three months.

    A wine-colour Opel Omega occupied by three brothers plunged into the canal at about 9a.m. on Monday.

    A Toyota Camry painted in ash colour fell into the canal on Sunday night.

    The driver of the Camry was the only occupant.

    All the four people are alive.

    The Opel Omega was marked JJN 583 AA and the Camry GGE 196 AR.

    The vehicles were both brought out of the water on Monday morning.

    NAN gathered that the Camry took off from the National Theatre some seconds before it skidded off the road and plunged into the canal.

    Mr Ifeanyi Stephen, an occupant of the Opel Omega, said that he took no notice of the canal.

    “We were driving and thinking that the road was straight because we are not conversant with this route.

    “By the time we got there, we saw that the place was water-logged.

    We applied the brake but the car didn’t stop. That was how the car fell into the water,” he told NAN.

    NAN observed that there were neither road signs warning motorists of the presence of the canal, nor barricades that could prevent vehicles and pedestrians from plunging into the canal.

    Mr Ariyo Jimoh, an Officer of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority in charge of the area, confirmed the incidents to NAN.

    He said: “The information we got is that the two vehicles ran into the canal. When we heard, we quickly sent our men to control traffic there.

    “Two vehicles were involved, but there were no casualties.”

    Meanwhile, motorists have appealed to the Lagos State Government to put barricades on both sides of the large canal to prevent such occurrences.

    “The Ministry of Transport should put appropriate road signs in place,” Mr Lukman Aremu, who plies the route daily, said

     

  • More ships carrying petroleum products arrive Lagos

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on Friday said that four vessels carrying petroleum products had arrived at the ports in Lagos.

    This is contained in the NPA’s daily publication, the “Shipping Position.”

    According to NAN reports NPA, the vessels will discharge their products at the Single Buoy Mooring; the Petroleum Wharf Apapa; Fishery Wharf and the New Oil Jetty.

    The NPA also disclosed that it was expecting the arrival of 51 vessels from March 21 to April 15.

    A breakdown showed that 20 of the 51 vessels would sail in with containers while 17 vessels would come with food items.

    It said that the food items include frozen fish, bulk salt, rice in bags, buckwheat and bulk malt.

    Four vessels will come in with additional petroleum products, including aviation fuel, the NPA said.

    It said that the remaining 10 vessels would sail in with general cargo, including steel products.