Lagos rehabilitates 300 roads as works begin on 114 others

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State says 300 roads scattered across the state have been rehabilitated in the last three months with positive impact on traffic flow and the movement of people and goods.

Ambode disclosed this at the second quarterly town hall meeting he hosted for the constituents of Lagos Island Senatorial District to render account of his stewardship, adding that new contracts had again been awarded for the reconstruction of additional 114 inner city roads – two from each of the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas of the state.

According to the governor, the 114-road project, which is costing the state N17.5 billion, will be delivered within the next six months, and will further enhance traffic flow across the state.

He listed some of the completed roads to include Afa Nla Road, Agege, CIPM Road, Alausa, Ijegun-Ikotun Road, Mba Street, Ajegunle, 1st and 2nd Avenue, Festac Town, Afolabi Ege Street, Ojo, Thomson Road, Ikoyi, 2nd Avenue, Ikoyi, Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Ebutte Ero Road, Lagos Island and Akin Adeshola Road, Victoria Island.

Ambode also said: “In the last quarter, we invested massively to reenergise and reinvigorate the state security infrastructure to bring it to a level comparable to what obtains in other modern city states. I am happy to report that our state is a lot safer today as statistics show that crime rate reduced by 65 percent during the last quarter compared to year 2014.”

Meanwhile, Fatai Owoseni, the state commissioner of police, at the town hall meeting, read riot act to hoodlums in the state and warned parents to take more than passive interest in the activities of their children and wards.

Owoseni said his command had decided to sanitise the Lagos Island notorious for sundry crimes and criminality in order to restore law and order in the state, but however lamented that many parents had unfortunately shirk their responsibility to their children who ordinarily should be their sheep, while they were the shepherd.

According to him, hoodlums on the Lagos Island are in the habit of committing crimes after which they run into hiding in some of the houses because of the terrain, adding that it had since been discovered that abandoned vehicles scattered all over the place were the places they hide their guns and other weapons.

“I saw this thing by myself yesterday (Monday), they would leave the gate open, these boys would run in there and by the time police get there, they would shut the gates. Guns are kept in abandoned vehicles. If people are abandoning vehicles on the roads, in whose house’s front are they abandoning the vehicles? It is in these vehicles that they keep the guns. If somebody is abandoning his bus in front of your house, it is for you to tell him to take the bus away,” Owoseni said.