•Lekki Free Zone investment hits N4.55trn
By Moshood Adebayo
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has ordered Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) off Lagos roads.
The order is with immediate effect.
It was gathered that the VIOs, under the Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS), left all Lagos roads, last week, on the governor’s order.
Government sources said Ambode ordered the VIOs off Lagos roads “for retraining, as a result of public complaints and, in a bid to reposition the outfit,” in addition to complaints about alleged high-handedness and over-zealousness of some officers.
Other sources said “officers are watching and waiting for the next action by the state government, on the matter.”
A top government source, who declined to be named said the order was unconnected with an alleged report of assaulting a motorist and burning the vehicle, a claim a VIO source dismissed as false. “Officers of the agency could not have carried out such debilitating action,” he said.
Another source added that the Ministry of Transportation has set machinery in motion, to organise training for VIOs “so that they can get back on the road as soon as possible. For now, they will stay off the roads, on the governor’s order.”
In his reaction, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, said the Transportation ministry is undergoing restructuring and soon, the action would be concluded.
Meanwhile, Ambode, yesterday, said fresh investments in the Lekki Free Zone is now over $4 billion.
This excludes other projects such as refinery and fertilizer plants being constructed by Africa’s richest businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, estimated at $11 billion.
The governor, who spoke through the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, at Alausa, Ikeja, also revealed that about $15 billion investments, an equivalent of N4.55 trillion is currently in place in the FTZ.
Of the 116 investors so far registered with LFZ, he said only 16 have commenced full operations, with some factories currently under construction. He added that about 100 investors had already signified their intention to register and situate their businesses within the zone.
“Lekki Free Zone remains a landmark industrial project for the Lagos State Government.
The strategic partnership between the Lagos State Government and the China-Africa Lekki Investment Limited (CALIL) in the Lekki Free Zone Development Company (LFZDC) is a testament to the undying resolve of the state government to ensure sustainable industrialisation of the state that would translate to improved job and wealth creation as well as economic growth through the attraction of local and foreign direct investments.
Meanwhile, the state government has lamented indiscriminate abandonment of 60 buildings, which allegedly belong to the Federal Government, saying they are constituting environmental nuisance to the state.
Special Adviser to the state governor on Central Business District, (CBD) Agboola Dabiri made the disclosure yesterday during a ministerial press briefing to mark the second year in office of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
He said: “We have over 60 abandoned buildings, and most of them are owned by the federal government.
The buildings have been turned into hideouts for criminals. I am sure very soon, the state government will take a decisive step on it.”