… As Ambode launches 177 vehicles, others for Neighbourhood Corps
By Kehinde Aderemi
From all over Lagos and beyond, they gathered in their numbers – excited individuals and groups wearing gaily faces. On Monday, March 27 and Wednesday, March 29, thousands of Lagos residents trooped to the Agege Township Stadium and Alimosho area respectively.
In Agege, Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode performed the official launch of the rebranding of Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, while in Alimosho, roads and a major bridge were commissioned by the governor in commemoration of the 65th birthday anniversary of former Governor Bola Tinubu.
At the event, 177 saloon cars and other vehicles equipped with high-tech communication gadgets, 377 motorcycles, 377 helmets, 4,000 bicycles, metal detectors and other equipment were handed over to the corps by the governor.
Ambode said the move was part of his administration’s efforts towards ensuring security all over the state. He noted that the Neighbourhood Safety Corps, which came into being in August last year, was created to provide a second layer of policing in Lagos so that the communities in the state would be more secured.
“The Neighbourhood Safety Corps is not in any way in competition with the regular police. In actual fact, they are expected to assist and complement the police by providing useful intelligence for crime prevention and to facilitate the arrest of perpetrators of criminal activities in our communities,” the governor said.
He informed that over 7,000 jobs had been created with the establishment of the outfit. The governor also handed over four vans fitted with Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command.
Two days later, the train moved to Aboru and Abesan communities in Alimosho. Besides the 480 metres bridge linking the two communities, roads constructed in the area include Church Street, Giwa Street, Victor Fagbemi Road, Ogunfayo Road, Ogundare Street and Salami Kazeem. All the roads were equipped with drainages, walkways and street lights.
Ambode noted that during a visit to the area in March last year, he had seen the bad network of roads and had assured the people that new roads would be constructed.
“Exactly one year after, we are here to keep our promise to the good people of Aboru, Abesan and other communities and reaffirm our commitment that no community or area will be left behind. Every Lagosian counts. We are a government of inclusion,” the governor said.
The governor assured that work would soon start on some roads and bridges linking Lagos with Ogun State in the area. Some of the roads are Ikola Road with Odo Obasanjo Bridge, Ogunseye Road, Oko Filling Road, Osenatu Ilo Road, Amikanle Road and Aiyetoro Road.
A delighted Tinubu showered praises on Ambode at the event. He said Ambode had performed exceedingly well in the past 22 months:
Said Tinubu: “Akinwunmi Ambode has reflected that he is clearly a thinker and doer. I want to say thank you. Experience is a great teacher, and I am experienced. I am on the spot and I have watched things in Lagos since my tenure ended.
“I was worried when you took over, not about your credibility, character or capacity, but because however wise or smart a man is, if there is no resources to back the ideas, production would be zero, progress would be zero.
“When you took over, you inherited a burden of debt. The debt profile of Lagos was high, I was wondering how you will re-engineer and face the challenges to make progress. Today, I can see your report card. You have scored well, and you have shown prudency especially in the judicious use of resources of the state. You didn’t disappoint us. Ambode is silently achieving, meticulously planning, religiously executing and brilliantly giving results for Lagos State.
“All over Lagos, we are seeing the results. Oshodi used to be a den of robbers; that place is now a construction site. What is going on here now is developmental activities for the benefit of the entire country.
“Today, you have given me a good birthday present. This is a great opportunity for me to be very proud again. Therefore, if we can continue in this direction of infrastructural development in the manner Governor Ambode is moving, Lagos will soon match international states or countries anywhere in the world.”
Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola and Senator representing Lagos West, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, applauded Ambode and urged Lagos residents to continue to support him to engender further dividends of democracy and good governance.
Chairman of Mosan Okunola Community Development Association (CDA), Pastor Gbenga Adanri said:
“We the people are very happy with the governor. We are happy because our roads have been put in proper shape and we now have a bridge to travel seamlessly within Aboru and Abesan.
“Before now, if your wife was pregnant and wanted to deliver, to cross to the other side was always a big issue and we always indulged in prayer that nothing untoward should happen. But today, we can move freely,” Adanri said.
Nathaniel Ajayi, a young resident of Abesan community, was also very happy with the interventions by Ambode:
“I was born in 1993 here in Abesan. I had always dreamt that one day the kind of development I see in Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikeja will take place here. Today our Governor has made my dream come true.”