Fashola Gives Account Of His 2300-Day Stay In Office

Saturday’s event, which is the the 23rd in the series, commemorates the 2,300 th day in
office of the present administration and marks
a fulfillment of the Governor’s commitment
since 2007 to render to the citizenry, through
town hall meetings with various segments of
the society, the account of the administration’s
performance every hundred days.
Addressing members of the Community
Development Committees (CDCs) and
Community Development Associations (CDAs),
corporate and private citizens, religious and
traditional rulers as well as artisans and market
women and men at the LTV Blue Roof Hall on
Agidingbi Road, Governor Fashola said the
continued development and transformation of
the State would only be possible with the full
cooperation of the citizenry in terms of
maintenance of peace, law and order.
The Governor, who enumerated the various
projects executed across the State in the last
100 days, appealed to the citizenry; “Your
support, peaceful co-existence, religious and
ethnic tolerance, discharge of your civic
responsibilities such as payment of taxes and
voluntary obedience of laws and regulations,
keeping the peace are all that we ask for, to
make your aspirations materialize”.
Beginning with the Budget performance in the
first and second quarters of the year, Governor
Fashola said the impacts were already being
felt in some projects in the Health Sector,
Education Sector and in the area of
infrastructural development as well as other
sectors of the economy.
According to the Governor, such projects
include the completion of the Trauma and
Burns Centre in Gbagada, two more flagship
Primary Health Care Centres in Eredo Epe and
in Itire, the Folarin Coker Health Centre for
public servants in Alausa, the street light of
Carter Bridge, the progress in the Technical
and Vocational Education Colleges as reported
during the State’s Enterprise Day and the
reports from the education sector at the
Annual Governor’s Education Award.
On Health, he said while the State
Government’s Health policy remains a matter
of non-negotiable commitment, the honest
truth is that free healthcare does not cover
every illness that afflicts the people, adding,
“That answer is insurance. This is the way that
I think we can unlock and optimize the idling
capacity and specialties that exist in over
3,000 privately owned health facilities that
ordinary people cannot access”.
Governor Fashola explained that of the two
supplementary budgets presented by the
Government after the second quarter, the first,
with the size of N7 billion, was to enable
Government finance the building of more
houses under the Lagos Homes Scheme, while
the second, amounting to N7.5 billion was for
the early acquisition of the Lekki Concession as
provided under the Concession Agreement “in a
way that helps us to keep investor confidence
and control any possible increase in the toll
fees”.
In the Education Sector, Governor Fashola
expressed joy that more students are getting
into secondary schools from the JSS 1
placement examination results which,
according to him, showed an increase in the
number of candidates from 49,316 in 2012 to
an almost doubling of 95,255 candidates in
2013 adding that the results show a pass rate
increase in the examinations from 67.01
percent in 2012 to 96percent in 2013.
“If you recall that we have since 2011
reviewed conditions of pass from what was
about 30% to a minimum of 50% pass in each
of English and Mathematics in addition to a
total aggregate average of an overall of 50% as
the minimum pass, you will appreciate the
progress that our children have made and the
effort that your Government has made”, the
Governor said.
Expressing optimism that his administration is
heading in the right direction in terms of its
new education policies the Governor added, “I
am also able to report that we have received
the results for 2013 WAEC Examinations which
show that out of 51,604 students who sat for
the examination, 21,193 secured the five
credits in Mathematics and English in one
sitting representing, according to him, a
41.06% pass rate over the 39% of last year.
“If you recall that we started from a 7% pass
rate in 2007 you will appreciate how far we
have come, to now record an over 41% pass
rate”, the Governor said adding, “For now, all I
can say is that, as far as our children’s
education is concerned, we are heading in the
right direction and I see a brighter and
rewarding future, even as our work remains
unfinished”.
Throwing more light on the Government
directive that all schools in the State, whether
public or private, should reopen on the same
day (September 23), Governor Fashola said it
was aimed at achieving a unified school
calendar for the State adding, “There are many
positive consequences for these, ranging from
security planning, transportation planning,
career development to mention a few”.
On Security, the Governor, who said there has
been an aggregate reduction in crime in the
State, however, noted that as a daily growing
State, “in a world that is getting increasingly
complex and where no nation is crime free”,
the State was getting its own fair share of
problems associated with population increase
with some of its citizens falling victims to
crimilals.
“But we remain resolute to fight crime and
criminals with every resource that we have”,
the Governor said, expressing joy that the
determination to fight crime in the State has
yielded some noteworthy successes against
crime and criminals”.
He listed some of the successes to include
arrest of a notorious gang of five robbers who
have been terrorizing the Lagos Island and the
apprehension of the kidnap gang that abducted
a number of people including a Local
Government Chairman adding “This was made
possible by the dedication of the officers in
the Lagos Command after almost a month of
surveillance that eventually led to the arrest of
the criminals”.
“Another notorious gang leader who had been
on the Police wanted list for 14 years, and who
had been launching attacks on our citizens
from outside Lagos is now in custody after a
well-planned operation that led to his arrest in
his hiding place outside Lagos”, the Governor
said adding that the Command also rescued a
foreign national from kidnappers during the
period.
Commending the gallantry and dedication of
the members of the Command, the Governor
declared, “Our officers must be proud of
themselves, and so must all of us be, not only
for the work that they have done, but also the
value they give for the support that we give to
them from your taxes and your voluntary
contribution to the Lagos State Security Trust
Fund, “especially MTN Nigeria who just gave 25
new patrol values to the Fund while he urged
all citizens to continue to pay their taxes
promptly and to support the Trust Fund with
donations.
Another area where progress was recorded
during the last 100 days, Governor Fashola
said, is in the Transportation sector where,
according to him, “the commitment of
Government in improving efficiency in public
transportation is yielding results”. Such results
include the recent formal handing over of the
7 kilometer Ibeshe Road, the over 200 inner
city roads currently under construction across
the State, the on-going resuscitation of five
ferries retrieved from the Lagos Lagoon.
The Governor, who said repairs on three of the
ferries would be completed this year so that
they could join the 59 already operational
ferries on the States waters, put the monthly
passenger ridership on at 1,788,370
passengers per month from 495,010
passengers per month in 2010 expressing joy
that work is moving towards conclusion of the
Osborne and Mile Two Jetties preparatory to
making them fully functional in a short while.
On the implementation of the States Road
Traffic Law, the Governor said it has resulted
in the reduction from 646 reported accidents
in August 2012 to 118 reported accidents in
July 2013 and the reduction in motorcycle
related deaths from an average of 12 in August
2012 to an average of 1 over the same period,
adding, “This justifies the commitment with
which we intervened”.
Governor Fashola warned commercial
motorcyclists who still ride on the restricted
roads “either with the wrong motorcycle or
without helmets or without registration plate
or with more than one passenger” to retrace
their steps adding, “Nobody will be allowed to
act outside the law made by our House of
Assembly. Our commitment to enforcement
remains very high”.
He also warned operators of tricycles that they
must comply to the same provisions of the
Traffic Law relating to safety and the routes
they can operate; mainly the inner streets and
not on highways adding that except for the
fact that the tricycles have cabins, they are
not different from the commercial motorcycle.
“However, we understand that our public
transport policies are still developing and it is
not our intention to inflict any hardship on our
people who rely on them. This is why I gave
clear directives last year that we will not seek
to enforce the Traffic Law as it relates to them
if they keep off the major highways”, he said.
The Governor promised that other safety
policies under the Traffic Law would soon be
unveiled “to make motoring in our State a
happy experience and raise standards to global
competitiveness”.
He recalled that during period the State hosted
the Lagos State International Table Tennis
Championship with 350 participants from 13
countries. According to him, ‘Our sporting
centres, hotels and transporters were kept
busy”, adding, “It is the first of a ten Sport
Championships now known as the Lagos Sports
Classics”.
Pointing out that the hosting was a fulfillment
of his commitment to Lagosians at the closing
of the 2012 National Sports Festival that the
State’s athletes would be kept busy while
keeping all the upgraded sports facilities in
good and efficient use, the Governor said soon
the State would be hosting the athletics events
of the Sports Classics and the remaining other
eight sporting events, adding, “So to our
sportsmen and women, get ready for a busy
sporting calendar. And to our Ministry of
Sports, coaches and all supporting agencies, I
say keep up the good work”.
Governor Fashola also reported with joy the
verdict of the National Census Tribunal on the
petitions by his administration, on behalf of 14
local governments in the State against the
Census figure allocated to the State by the
National Population Commission after the last
2006 Census exercise in the country saying as
a result of the petitions, the Tribunal has
ordered a recount in 14 out of 20
communities in the State.
The Governor advised, “No nation that wants to
prosper and solve human challenges should
ever be tardy or play politics with data
collection projects such as population census.
You cannot manage what you cannot measure”.
He also announced the Supreme Court verdict
on the State Government’s case against the
Federal Government relating to the latter’s
incursion in the area of tourism saying the the
Supreme Court was emphatic in affirming the
position of the State Government that it is only
a State Government and its House of Assembly
that have powers to regulate tourism, with the
exception of tourist traffic which deals with
issuance of visas, length of stay and
immigration into Nigeria.
He declared, “Apart from the revenue erosion,
the incursions made it difficult to grow that
sector and create jobs, because the operators
were caught between two governments; and
understandably were often unsure of who their
appropriate regulator should be, between the
State and the Federal Government” , adding
that the victory “is victory for federalism and
for all the 35 other States including the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who can now
take their tourism destiny in their own hands”.
Still on the courts, Governor Fashola said the
State Government was ready to go to the
Supreme Court to challenge the verdict of the
Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal which
acquitted Major Al Mustapha on charges of
conspiracy and murder of late Qudirat Abiola.
Governor Fashola declared, “Because our
Constitution permits a further appeal to the
Supreme Court, and because we place the
highest premium on every human life and
because the families of the victims deserve
every right to agitate the matter to the final
court, just as the accused would have been
entitled, your Government has appealed on
behalf of the people to the Supreme Court”.
Other areas which the Governor reported
include the registration of the All Progressives
Congress (APC),which he said became a reality
in spite of the criticisms of the opposition,
commencement of Saturday service in
Government departments such as Lands,
Physical Planning, Motor Vehicle
Administration and the Vehicle Inspection
service from 10am to 2pm and the payment of
compensations to those who lost property as a
result of the Dana air crash and erection of a
cenotaph at the site of the crash among
others.
Noting that the periodic briefings have helped
to deepen the democratic experience in the
State, Governor Fashola said its uniqueness, in
the sense that no other no other government
in the country has committed to a regular 100
day, town hall style meeting, the State
Government has never failed to hold it and has
never changed the date.
“It has been beneficial to you and to us
because it keeps us on our toes to deliver and
it reinforces how seriously we hold your
mandate and value your support”, he said
adding that apart from the fact that the
administration has remained true to it as a
commitment it freely made, the unsustainable
attempt by competitors “to sloppily copy it, in
a very poor imitation about which they have
now gone quiet, speaks volumes about the
commitment of your Government”. The credit,
he said, “certainly belongs to all our public
servants and officers who work tirelessly to
deliver the progress that I am always delighted
to report”.