Obasanjo denied lagos special status says akinolu

Ambode unveils plans to roll out empowerment programmes.

Oba of Lagos Rilwan Akiolu has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of being responsible for Lagos not being granted special status.

Akiolu spoke yesterday at the third quarterly Town Hall Meeting organised by the Lagos State Government at the Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.

The event was attended by the senator representing Lagos Central, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, Chief Tajudeen Olusi, party chieftains, captains of industry among others.

Oba Akiolu said Obasanjo had the opportunity to have granted Lagos a special status during his eight years tenure, but never did it in spite of the pressure mounted on him.

He added that when a delegation of eminent Lagosians, which he led, met with the former president on the issue , Obasanjo told them that he had already drafted the special status plan for Lagos.

Oba Akiolu said if Obasanjo had fulfilled that promise, the issue of the National Assembly turning down Senator Tinubu's bill would not have arisen.

"Yar'Adua had promised to grant Lagos a special status. If Yar'Adua had not died, it would have happened by now," he said.

The monarch, however, said it was a matter of time as Lagos would certainly be accorded a special status.

Oba Akiolu also expressed worry over the spate of kidnapping in Lagos despite the efforts of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to provide security, calling for the establishment of Local Government Security Committee to work with the police to nip kidnapping in the bud.

Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode assured residents that better days are ahead.

The governor said the N500 million Lagos State Persons Living with Disability Fund would commence later this month.

"The funding for the N500m Lagos State Persons Living with Disability Fund has been provided and beneficiaries will start getting support from this quarter."

He added that review of the 2016 budget showed that the state generated N97.3 billion in the last quarter and had a total expenditure of N110.2billion.

Ambode said: "We expended N55 billion on capital expenditure in the last quarter. Our budget performance for January to September is 69 percent as against 65 percent for the same period in 2015.

"A total of N166.8billion has been spent on capital projects this year more than double the N53.6 billion spent for the same period last year. We believe strongly that continuous increase in the capital expenditure spending is a necessity at this particular period.

"In this quarter, we will concentrate more resources on capital projects. We will put money in the hands of our local contractors and through them stimulate and reflate the economy."

On security, the governor explained that plans were on to recruit at least 5,000 Neighbourhood Watchers.

He said the neighbourhood Safety Agency Bill, which he signed into Law on August 15, was part of efforts to institutionalise and deepen community policing.

"We will rebrand Neighborhood Watchers and re-equip them to the level that each Neighborhood Watchers in all the Local Governments will have their vehicles and necessary equipment to complement security. We are also working on employing additional 5,000 Neighborhood Watchers in all our Local Governments and they will be paid by us, while the basic salary for the entrance level will be N25, 000 per month," the governor said.

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