The
Federal Government yesterday came hard on the Governor of Lagos State,
Babatunde Raji Fashola, saying there is nothing significant in what the
governor is doing in the state.
Minister
of Information, Labaran Maku, who stated this in Abuja during the commencement
of the 2013 ministerial platform, said most of the revenue generating projects
in the state were federal projects.
Maku
said: “Most of the projects in Lagos State where taxes are being collected are
federal projects,” adding that “Lagos State does no significant thing other
than environmental sanitation.”
He
added that the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was running on federal roads,
saying the state government was collecting taxes on federal infrastructure. The
minister said the aim for initiating the ministerial platform was to avail
Nigerians of the progress being made in various sectors of governance.
Maku
said the ongoing National Good Governance Tour, was in furtherance of the
ministerial platform, which began in 2012.
He
said with the tour, Nigerians could match action with what the ministers said
they had done on the ministerial platform. Presenting his ministry’s scorecard,
Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said the Federal Ministry of Works, had
made significant strides in road development since the inception of the
administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Onolememen
added that on May 29, 2011, Nigerian roads were described as death traps and
many road projects were abandoned, while a number of ongoing projects were
moving at snail speed.
He
said it was a nightmare to travel on Nigerian roads, saying the Jonathan
administration and the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Works were
confronted with a situation that required urgent and far reaching changes and
reforms, especially in the areas of policy, management and financing of roads
infrastructure in the country.
According
to Onolememen, “A paradigm shift became inevitable in the development of roads
infrastructure in our country.
The
management of the Federal Ministry of Works under my leadership felt the
urgency to reclaim the national road network from the state of disrepair this
administration met it and elevate it to an enviable state where it can once
again help to promote economic growth and national integration.”
“About
two years on, Nigerian roads can no longer be described as death-traps due to
the remarkable improvement in the condition of the roads as a result of the
unprecedented rehabilitation, construction and expansion of major arterial
highways under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“Today,
travel times between origins and destinations on most of these arterial routes
have been drastically reduced. Also, maintenance costs of vehicles have been
reduced as a result of improved driving surfaces, devoid of potholes that
hitherto put ‘holes’ in the pockets of vehicle owners due to frequent repairs
occasioned by bad roads.
“Critical
stakeholders in the road sector have publicly acknowledged the breath of fresh
air in road transportation in our country due to the improved condition of our
roads.
One
of the transport companies in our country, ABC Transport Company, recently
slashed its fares in a widely circulated advert in The Punch newspaper of
Monday, May 20, 2013, with the caption, ‘The Roads Are Getting Better’ and gave
its reason solely as the marked improvement on our arterial roads.
This
is one of the outcomes of the transformation agenda in the road sector,”
Onolememen said. Some of the landmarks outlined by the minister include the
recovering of failed portions of federal roads across the country from Ilorin
to Jebba, Lafia to Makurdi, Aliade to Oturkpo, Oturkpo to 9th Mile, Enugu to
Port Harcourt, Kano to Katsina, Lokoja to Okene, Okene to Benin, Lagos to
Ibadan, and Odukpani to Itu.
Onolememen
said as a result of the successes recorded in the past two years, Nigerian
roads had again truly become not only veritable economic arteries supporting
economic growth, but also a tool for national integration.
Source: Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment