Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has announced the commencement of the recruitment of 1,000 teachers in the state.
Ambode spoke at the state’s Third Quarter Town Hall Meeting, the 12th in the series, at the Community Primary School, Iberekodo in the Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area.
The governor, who also directed that a physically-challenged resident and graduate of Computer Studies, Michael Ogunyemi, be employed from August 1, 2018, said, “more teachers will be recruited as the need arises.”
He called on the Federal Government to revive the ports in other states of the federation in order to solve the perennial traffic congestion in the Apapa area of Lagos.
He said beyond getting other ports up and running, the issue of tankers queuing up to lift petroleum products from tank farms in Apapa was also a major issue causing gridlock and damaging road infrastructure.
“This issue has become perennial and in the last six years, it has always been there. It comes and goes, but the challenge is to be able to find a permanent solution. We believe strongly that every layer of government should collaborate to resolve this Apapa crisis,” he said.
The governor also noted that oil pipelines should be revived to discourage the trend of thousands of trucks coming from other parts of the country to lift petroleum products from Apapa.
“It is bad that we still use truck to lift petroleum products from Apapa to other parts of the country. As it is now, other ports in Nigeria must begin to work immediately to decongest gridlock in Lagos; what has led to the use of trucks to lift fuel, which is vandalism of pipelines, should be addressed immediately.
“We believe that this will allow the roads to become free. We don’t need to continuously use taxpayers’ money to build roads that will be destroyed by tankers,” he said.
The Governor also expressed concern about the approval for the development of tank farms in the Ijegun area of Lagos, saying tank farms should be located in areas that were not populated.
“We don’t need tank farms within Lagos metropolis anymore. There are 68 tank farms in Apapa alone. Beyond Apapa, they have approved tank farms in Ijegun and that is where we have a huge population,” he said.
Speaking on the efforts of his administration to develop the economy of the state, Ambode said his administration had continued to ensure that the future of Lagos remained on a sound pedestal.
“Our promise from the beginning was that we are going to give you a government of inclusion and it’s very clear that we are on track. When we look at our scorecard, which is to keep Lagos on a trajectory of growth and development, we are on that track,” he said.
Ambode also said the construction of the Epe Airport and reconstruction of the coastal road were on course, adding that the 27 network of roads in Ojokoro, Ayinke House, among other projects would be completed before the next quarter.
