Gov Ambode blames minister's office for frustrating efforts to beautify Lagos

Lagos State governor,

This was made known to the general public when the Lagos governor spoke to journalists at the State House on Wednesday, March 8, 2017.

Ambode specifically said his administration’s plan to carry out a total reconstruction of the International Airport Road from Oshodi was being frustrated by the Federal Ministry of Works.

"The road linking Oshodi to the International Airport, you would all agree with me is a national embarrassment. In the spirit of the regeneration and urbanisation that this administration has set out to achieve, we believe strongly that the image that is exhumed by the decadence of that road must be repaired and we took it upon ourselves to appropriate the 2017 budget that the House of Assembly should approve the total reconstruction of the Airport Road from Oshodi to the International Airport," Ambode said.

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Continuing, the governor said: “The state currently has a design of 10 lanes to come from Oshodi to the international airport with interchange and flyover that would drop you towards the local airport. The contractor is already set to go and everything as I said has been completed and we already have the cash, but alas we are having challenges with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. This is a federal and not a state road. The Federal Ministry of Works believes that they should do the road, but they have not been able to do it all these years past.”

In the same vein, the governor also revealed that six months after President Muhammadu Buhari approved the handover of the Presidential Lodge, Marina, the state government was yet to gain access into the premises.

He said that the inability of the state government to access the lodge was seriously frustrating the programmes outlined for the Lagos @ 50 celebrations.

In his words: "One of the key venues that we need to celebrate the real essence of Lagos, the historic place that we refer to as Presidential Lodge is still more or less being tossed about in terms of being handed over to us. We believe strongly that by May 27, 2017, we should be able to invite Mr. President and other people who have actually made Lagos what is it today to that Presidential Lodge for the final banquet and dinner to mark Lagos at 50.

“As we speak, we are yet gain entrance into that place and this is frustrating our programme. So I want to use this medium to appeal and say that the approval of Mr. President should be rightly honoured and the agencies concerned, that is the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and the Security Services should honour that promise by Mr. President. We just believe strongly that we must proceed to gain access into that place so that we can roll out our programmes for Lagos at 50,” Ambode said.

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Babatunde Fashola, who was in Lagos on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 to commiserate with the Adebayo family after the passing away of the patriarch, Adeyinka Adebayo, is yet to respond to the allegations.

It should also be noted that Fashola served as the governor of Lagos State for eight years before handing over to Gov Ambode in 2016.