24-hour Power Supply To Strategic Buildings, Areas In Lagos CBD Soon

Having fulfilled a promise made in 2008 to electrify the outer Marina, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Tuesday said strategic buildings and areas in the Lagos Central Business District (CBD) will enjoy 24-hour electricity supply before the end of next year.

Governor Fashola, who made the disclosure Tuesday at the Stakeholders’ Forum of the Lagos Central Business District at the City Hall in Central Lagos, named some of the buildings to include the Lagos General Hospital, the Lagos High Court, the Island Maternity and the City Hall as well as some streets among others.

Addressing a capacity crowd of stakeholders, including market men and women, captains of industries, prominent residents of Lagos Island, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Francisco Abosede and some other members of the State Executive Council and the Legislature, Chairmen of the two Local Government Areas in Lagos Central Business District, a representative of the Oba of Lagos and other White Cap Chiefs, among others, Governor Fashola also spoke on plans for total redevelopment of some traditional and historical sections of the city especially starting from Igan Olusi to Idumota.

Governor Fashola told the Stakeholders, “Three years ago when we met at Muson, I promised you that we would electrify the whole of Outer Marina by December 2008 and today, that promise has been fulfilled. And now, I can tell you that we are already working on a plan that will enable us supply 24-hour electricity to some strategic buildings in Lagos and I believe by this time next year when we are holding the next Stakeholders’ Meeting, we would have switched on that power supply”.

The Governor, however, said the ability to extend the same plan to the whole of Lagos would depend on steps being taken by the Federal Government in its on-going unbundling of the Power sector in the country adding that the State Government is monitoring the progress and is also making preparations to take advantage of the unbundling when it is eventually completed.

“While we are waiting for them, your Government has already taken the lead because when we start the generation of electricity, we still have to distribute it and we are going to need metres, we are going to need transformers, we are going to need cables, we are going to need poles”, the Governor said pointing out that the present administration has already taken the lead by signing a joint venture with a world renowned Egyptian firm for the production of transformers near Badagry.

He said the State Government has plans to produce other electrical accessories such as metres, cables and others pending when the power sector reform would be completed adding that the ultimate plan was to provide an uninterrupted power supply to the whole State.

On the total redevelopment of some sections of the city, Governor Fashola who said the Local Government Chairmen on the Island are involved in the plan, said a team of architects who would carry out the redevelopment “is headed by a Lagosian who practices in New York but has come back home to begin the total redesign of some sections of the city”.

Commending his immediate predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for investing a colossal amount in the upgrading and revitalization of the Lagos Central Business District, the Governor declared, “Some back room economists at that time said there was concentration on the Island to the detriment of the whole state. How wrong they were; how shortsighted they were,”,noting that it is that same Island that millions of people head to everyday for their daily living.

In his goodwill message, the Chairman of Lagos West Local Government Area, Mr. Wasiu Esinlokun commended the State Government for the investments in the upgrading of the Island adding that the Local Governments on the Island would continue to do their best to maintain its beauty in partnership with the State administration.

Also in his goodwill message, a chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, commended Governor Fashola for “the wonderful work he is doing in Lagos and urged the residents to “ensure that the works continue to be wonderful”.

In his goodwill message, Chairman of the House Committee on the CBD, Honourable Ayoola Ahmed noted that the glory of Lagos is back and congratulated the Governor for the accomplishments that ensured the return of the glory of Lagos.

Other people who gave goodwill messages included the Chairman of the Lagos East Local Government, representative of the Iyaloja-General of Lagos Island, Alhaja Iyabo Fagbemi who also commended the Governor for his good works and pledged the continued co-operation of the market men and women and the Managing Director of Shell who pledged that the company would continue to fulfill its Corporate Social Responsibility on the Island.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Special Adviser on the Lagos Central Business District, Honourable Oyinlomo Danmole, recalled that prior to the creation of the Office of the Special Adviser on the Lagos CBD, the transportation in the city and all other arrangements were chaotic but expressed joy that “for more than three years together we have restored some level of sanity to our dear environment in Lagos CBD.”