Gov Sanwo-Olu not a weakling, has zero tolerance for indiscipline, says Omotoso ….describes THEMES+ Agenda as youth oriented
Ayodele Olalere
Mr Gbenga Omotoso is the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy. In this interview with The Nigerian Xpress, he debunked the insinuation that the state governor, Babajide Sanwo Olu has not done enough to enforce the law on the people.
He also spoke on the THEMES+Agenda of the second term of Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
During the last four years, Mr Governor worked with THEMES Agenda, now he has added PLUS to make it THEMES + Agenda, can you tell us what the plus entails and how is it going to benefit Lagosians positively?
When Mr Governor delivered the budget speech, he spoke about THEMES + Agenda and when he delivered his speech during his inauguration for the second term he also spoke about it.
Mr Governor felt he should add something that may not have been very well catered for in the THEMES Agenda, so he brought on board the Plus and it is simply about social inclusion, gender equality and about the youth. It means in this second tenure, we are going to be doing many things, attention will be paid to our young people because they say they are leaders of tomorrow, but this administration believes that it is not even a question of tomorrow, that they are leaders of today.
You can see that in all of the things that we are doing in Lagos, we talk about entertainment. The young people are the leaders, and when you talk about science and technology, they are leading the way. When you talk about sports they are the ones at the forefront, so there is no government that wants to brush aside all that the young people are doing. So in Lagos we are giving them all the opportunities that they need in the creative industry where over 6,000 of them have been trained in film editing, acting and script writing by some of the giants in the trade like Del-York, Ogidi, Ebonylife.
You can see what we have done about 18 vocational centres that the Lagos State government runs where over 16 ,000 youths have been trained and after passing out of these schools, they were not left on their own, they were given equipment to go and start their new trade. As I speak to you now, we are building about nine Mini Stadia in some parts of Lagos so that young people can have avenues to display their talents in sports.
And we are encouraging science and technology through the LASRIC fund. About N250 million has been put there so that young people who have ideas, innovation and who will need to push through their dreams about this innovation will have no problem sourcing funds.
Everything that the government is doing is going to be geared towards encouraging our young people, so that is what THEMES plus is all about,
In the first term of Mr Governor, we saw iconic projects being initiated and completed. What other iconic or landmark projects should Lagosians be expecting from this administration during this second term?
The Opebi-Ojota link bridge is going to be completed. Also, Massey Hospital by the time it’s completed is going to be the biggest pediatric hospital in Africa and if it’s not in Africa, but it will be the biggest in West Africa. There is also a Mental Health hospital that we are also building in Ketu Ejinrin Epe, it’s a mental rehabilitation centre.
That hospital is going to be about 500 bed hospital and it will treat people with mental illnesses and will be a rehabilitation centre. There are other numerous projects like the Lekki International airport which is expected to take pressure off the Muritala Muhammed Airport. it’s going to be built on like 5,000 hectares of land and it’s expected to take about 5 million passengers per year and it’s going to be able to help people to avoid Muritala Muhammed Airport,
There is also the Omu Cricket project which will be connecting a virgin area of Lagos to Epe, Itoomu among others. There is also the 4th mainland bridge. At the moment, a company has been selected for it and any moment from now, we are going to be doing the ground breaking,
By the time Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu came in, we had about seven ferries but later it increased to 14 and very soon, we will be bringing in about 12 more ferries so that water transportation can be expanded and make more popular, because on water there is no traffic congestion, it is smooth, healthy, fast and comfortable.
Part of the projects that will be completed is the Red Rail line System, which will be running from Oyingbo in Lagos to Agbado in Ogun State, a journey of about three hours will be reduced to about 32 minutes, lt will be smooth and jolly ride and in the first quarter of this year, the project will be open and Mr Governor has said that he is going to prevail on Mr President to come and be the one to cut the tape on that day.
That Red line was conceived and started by Mr Sanwo-Olu on April 21, 2021 and he promised that before the end of his first tenure that it was going to be commissioned and today, to the glory of God, it’s over 90 percent completed, so everything that needs to be done about Redline has been done and very soon it’s going to be opened.
There is also the general hospital, the first to be built in Lagos in Ojo, is currently ongoing.There is Leather Hub in Mushin and other projects that we are going to be starting and completing this year.
Has the state been able to complete the budget cycle for the year 2023 and how will it be able to implement the new budget cycle for the development of all the sectors?
Lagos has a history of implementing its budget, I think the last budget we did; by September/October we have done over 80 percent and by November, we were about 90 percent, so for Lagos it’s going to be exciting to implement because it’s an ambitious budget of about N2.2 trillion. For us it’s something we need to work harder for the Implementation and we are assure it’s going to be implemented because it is only way to create jobs and deliver dividends of democracy and not just the renewed hopes that we are talking about, but to concretise all of the new things and bold the audacious project that we talking about.
Security challenges are rearing its head in so many parts of the country. What measures are in place to ensure overhauling of the security architecture of the state in the new year?
On the issue of security, you will agree with me that we do not just say that Lagos is the most secure state in Nigeria, it is considering the kind of pressure that we are having like people coming into the state every hour in their thousands. So for us to be able to keep this state the way it is then, we deserve a kudos.
Security is a business of all of us where everyone is reporting issues of security to the government, but the kind of it that I see in Lagos is what we see in all cities of the world. I tell people when they come to Nigeria and say they are worried about security and I tell them that when I go to some other places like New York, London that I too get worried because people don’t get stabbed at the bus stop in Lagos, they can pick your pocket and all of that if you’re not attentive enough, and that is not enough for people to say there is a security challenge in Lagos.
There is a kind of synergy that you have amongst the security agencies in Lagos; the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Civil Defence and our own Neighborhood Watch which is very effective, because you find them everywhere.
Lagosians are also united to ensure that the state is secured so I feel that Lagos is very secure and it’s going to be secured,
Is there any plan to resuscitate the town hall meeting?
Talking about the town hall meeting; by the time we came in, we were trying to do these things but after COVID, there were so many other crises such as Endsars and all of that. In the midst of these crises, we cannot be thinking of a town hall meeting but to be specific, before the end of this month, we are going to have a town hall meeting.
It was reported a few days ago that the state government has started demolishing houses In computer Village. How true is this?
On the issue of demolishing, we have to differentiate between demolition by the state government and the one done by some other agencies.
There was demolition at Computer Village and some mischievous people put it on social media. It was just a pure lie and propaganda to divide Lagosians. What actually happened was that the Police Officers Wives Association had a structure in Computer Village and they planned to rebuild the structure so they wanted to demolish it and they asked for permission because they are the owners of the structure and they brought it down by themselves, it has nothing to do with the Lagos State government.
All the other demolition that we are talking about in other places are structures that were built on a drainage and they were brought down and up till today, nobody whose structure was demolished has come forward to say it was illegally or unjustly demolished, because most of the structures that were demolish did not have any paper to show that they got approval from the state government to go and build those structures,
If such structures are being demolished of course there is nothing anyone can do about it because the laws backed demolition of such structures. The ones at the Abule Ado are done by the Federal government and the government is asking that anyone that can show a paper of approval to build there will get compensation.
All of the people who lost their homes to give way to the Redline have all been compensated, and that was the largest compensation ever paid in any part of Nigeria. Apart from the landlords, even tenants were paid for what they suffered and they got money to go and rent a new apartment and that is unprecedented in Nigeria, it has not been done before.
Just a few days ago, Mr Governor hinted at the Lagos medical university. Where is it going to be sited in the state?
For the Medical College, it’s something that is on the drawing board but its at the heart of Mr Governor t so that Lagosians can have more access to good health care and people who seek to study medicine will also have the opportunity to study without any pains.
How does the state plan to maintain all these infrastructures?
Every time we go on project commissioning, Mr Governor tells people that Lagosians should see the projects as their own and should not allow vandals to touch them and ensure they are well kept. The maintenance culture is the work of all of us. We need to protect the project and not abuse it by dumping refuse indiscriminately and by comporting ourselves in a civilised way that Lagosians are expected to behave.
What is the government doing to ameliorate the suffering of Lagosians on the bad state of Ikorodu/Itokin Express?
On the issue of Ikorodu-Itoikin road, it is a federal road but Lagos is not saying because of that then we should keep our eyes closed to whatever that is happening there, it’s a very strategic road connecting very important towns such as Epe and Ikorodu with other parts of Lagos.
The federal government has awarded that contract but it takes sometimes for the contractors to mobilise it’s equipment and move to the sites. I am sure very soon work is going to start on that road because the federal government has moved into it and when it is done it will solve the suffering of the people along that corridor.
The light-up Lagos project of the previous administration has been abandoned. What is the governor doing to ensure the street lights are working?
You may not know how much the government is putting into it to ensure that Lagos is not dark. The kind of system that we have in place before, the government cannot continue with that. To be using diesel to power street lights today, the cost of a litre of diesel is not what we had about three to four years ago where we had to spend about N700 million monthly just to power street lights. It doesn’t make sense at all. What the government has been trying for is to do retrofitting. You will see that the lamps are up now and they are brighter than what we used to have. We have changed all the bulbs and the ones we have now do not consume power like the one we used to have and yet they are brighter.
We are also trying to use gas. Some of the street lamps have been changed to gas and we are also trying to use solar and other means of electricity that are more superior than what we have now. As much as possible we are trying to connect some of the street lights to the public power supply, so that the problem of diesel can be solved. But these are things that you cannot do within one to five months, they take time and they are gradual so people should continue to be patient and show understanding. The government knows this and we are working on it.
Lagosians see the governor as too weak to enforce the law on offenders when they go against the law. What’s your take?
The numbers of personnel that are clamping down on defaulters in Lagos are very minimal and I am sure you are all aware that recently Mr Governor arrested those that are riding motorcycles on the highway and at the same time taking the one way. This is unacceptable in Lagos and the administration of Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has called for zero tolerance to any form of indiscipline in the state.
In the other developed world, whenever the government says an act is illegal, every citizen should be able to abide by it and be on the line.
The government has not slowed down on the continuous enforcement of those violating any form of laws in Lagos and anyone that is apprehended will face the appropriate sanctions.
Recently the NURTW leaders met with Mr Governor on the new leadership of the Union, what’s the position of the state government on the incoming executive council of the Union?
The interest of the Lagos State government in the leadership of the Union is to ensure peace. NURTW is a union and if you are doing your union and your activities don’t affect peace in Lagos, the government has no problem with you. Government went in there to ensure that what was brewing there; a kind of leadership crisis does not escalate to what would affect an ordinary Lagosians going about their legitimate duties in a manner that is civilised. All that the government wanted was peace and from what has happened I think the government has achieved its aims.
The congestion at Oshodi Apapa Expressway has refused to go away. Is there any permanent solution in sight?
People are saying that the system put in place by the Nigeria Port Authority NPA in conjunction with Lagos State government has failed. I think it’s technology, and technology doesn’t fail like that, it is the human element that is the culprit, especially in this particular case.
The government says that there is a system that will make trucks not go into the port when they are not called upon until their turn to go and pick up so why would they go there despite the punishment meted to those that violate this system. People prefer to get punished, but for them to stay and wait for call up, they don’t want to do that, and I feel that it is bad and it’s something that all of us should be able to educate all those guys who see themselves as bigger than the law.
Recently, government moved in and seized about 150 trucks after they had signed an agreement not to block the roads and there has been representation from low and high places that they should release the trucks to them and we warned them not to stay on the road again.
I think that all of us as human beings need to check ourselves because if the government says it doesn’t want something it is a law and if your activities are a bit discomfort to other Lagosians, I think you should be ashamed of yourself that what you are doing is a discomfort to other people. All you want is to make money without considering others which, for me, is not the way to do business and not the civilised way to live among people. We will continue to encourage the Ministry of Transportation to enforce the law and go after them and see that they don’t block the way.
