Lagos State Governor, Mr.
Babatunde Fashola, yesterday,
expressed reservations over the
Minister of State for Defense,
Senator Musliu Obanikoro’s
alleged invasion of the state with
soldiers to disrupt the ongoing
Ilubirin Housing projects on the
Lagos Island.
Fashola, who made the
observation while rendering
account of his stewardship in the
last 2,500 days in office at the
Lagos Television ground, alleged
that agents of the Federal
Government were bent on
frustrating projects undertaken by
the state government.
His words, “The contractor at
Oyingbo has stopped works
because some agents of the
Federal Government moved
soldiers there, claiming that they
own the land. As far as I can
recall, that land was acquired by
Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson during
his tenure, when Alhaji Femi
Okunnu was the Federal
Commissioner for Works.
“In the documents handed over to
our government, Alhaji Femi
Okunnu clearly indicated that
that land belonged to the Lagos
State Government. It has been
unused for many years. It was
when we started this Lagos HOMS
initiative that we decided to build
48 flats there.
“We started building when people
came with soldiers claiming it
belongs to the Federal
Government. They instructed the
soldiers to stop the construction.
This morning, on my way to this
event, you would see I observed
at the Ilubirin Housing Estate
where we have started a project
to build 1188 flats, someone has
gone there to put a sign of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Fashola explained that the land
has been there in the last five
years, saying the contract to
reclaim the land was issued by
the Lagos State government to
Julius Berger in the previous
administration.
He said: “I was told that the
minister we are talking about,
Senator Obanikoro, was there on
Saturday with soldiers. So, this is
what we are going to get for 1.2
million votes from Lagos. It is a
threat to our housing initiative, its
threat to poor people, who are
hoping to own homes under this
scheme.”
Fashola, who listed a number of
projects executed by the state
government in the last 100 days
in office, said the state
government has brought
healthcare delivery to the
doorsteps of the people by
building healthcare complexes and
offering free medical services to
the residents.
The governor said many roads
were commissioned in the last
100 days, while the government
also intensified efforts to solve the
problem of housing by giving out
houses built under the Lagos State
Home Ownership Mortgage
Schemes. jay5
jeedeegist
No comments:
Post a Comment