Lagos government begins pilot Saturday work

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Tuesday kept faith with the tradition of his administration by rendering an account of his stewardship to Lagosians on his 2,100 Days in Office during which he announced the commencement of Saturday services in the Ministries of Transportation, Physical Planning and Urban Development and Land Bureau.

Governor Fashola, who described the last 2,100 days as a rewarding partnership between the people of Lagos State and his Party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, said while the Ministry of Transportation would deal with issues of drivers’ training, drivers’ license and traffic enforcement, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development would deal with complaints and queries about building permits and related matters while the Land Bureau would deal with issues relating to land.

Explaining that the decision to commence the pilot service was informed by the desire of some Lagosians to access such services if they are made available on Saturdays, Governor Fashola, who said the services would commence from March 3, 2013 also disclosed that the Head of Service has been mandated to publish the full details of how it would work and the scope of work which, according to him, would last from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. excluding the last Saturday of every month which is reserved for Sanitation Day.

The 2, 100 days stewardship which was rendered at the LTV Multi-purpose Blue Roof Hall, on Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, marked the 21st hundred days during which the Governor has consistently kept the campaign promise he made to Lagosians in 2007 to brief them every hundred days on the activities of his administration.

In his address before a capacity audience consisting of top government functionaries, captains of industry, clerics and traditional rulers as well as party chieftains, Governor Fashola said from all indications, especially as shown by the budget performances over the years, the economy of Lagos was on the upbeat while the State was also gaining both in financial stability, integrity and investor confidence.

Recalling his promise on the occasion of the 2,000 Days in office to improve on the performance of the 2012 Budget, Governor Fashola expressed joy that the performance of the Budget improved tremendously in the fourth quarter resulting in overall performance of 89 percent for the year, a feat which he attributed to the success of the State’s Bond Issuance programme for N80 billion which, according to him, was fully subscribed.

“This is eloquent testimony not only of the growing economy of Lagos but of its financial stability, its integrity and investor confidence in the ability of the Action Congress controlled government”, the Governor said adding, “The consequence of that was the increase in performance of the 4th Quarter budget which resulted in an overall budget performance of 89 percent for the whole year”.

On the output and impact of the 2012 Budget, Governor Fashola cited the completion of Ibeshe Road in Ikorodu, the Mother and Child Care Centres in Amuwo-Odofin and Alimosho, the completed School of Nursing as well as the progressing road projects from Mile-12 to Ikorodu, Yaya Abatan/College Road, Okota-Ago Palace Way, Ejigbo Ajao Link Bridge and road networks.

Others, according to him, include Education infrastructure in the Lagos State Polytechnics in Ikorodu comprising of a new access road, a sports complex and a School of Technology “the complete makeover” going on in the State’s University (LASU).
“Some of the good news coming out of that school in the last one hundred days in addition to the satisfactory progression of infrastructure work, are that it is now listed as one of the top 10 institutions in Law studies in Nigeria by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and it is the only University so listed and it recently graduated 11,362 students and the certificates of all graduands were ready and signed on graduation day”, the Governor said.