•Begins demolition of gated streets
By Oluwole Farotimi
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday inspected the new Imota site, proposed for the relocation of the popular Mile 12 Market, where he assured that work will commence on the site next week.
The governor who was accompanied on the inspection visit by top officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and members of the State Executive Council said the relocation of the market became necessary following the recent clash in the area, just as he directed the ministry to move to site and commence work on the market immediately.
He however, expressed optimism that the relocation will drive commerce and investment into the Imota area, urging residents to gear up to receive the vast number of visitors that will visit the market.
“We are all aware that we had a little crisis at Mile 12 Market in Ketu recently and here is the new site that we are relocating Mile 12 Market to.
“So, our new commodities market would take off from here and so I like to give the Ministry of Physical Planning the directive to commence activities here within the next one week. We believe that if we start within the next seven days, within the next six months, Mile 12 Market Ketu will be a thing of the past.
“We are committed to doing this. We know it is in the interest of all Lagosians that we relocate Mile 12 Market. The marketers themselves have agreed; the onus is now on us to ensure that we deliver this new market within the next six months.
The governor, who also visited the Imota Rice Processing Factory in Ikorodu Division, assured that the facility will be overhauled and be up and running within the next six months.
He said the intention of his administration was to intervene and upgrade the facility to a standard one that will achieve a 10,000 metric tonnes per hour production and also invite private investors to complement the intervention with an additional 10,000 metric tonnes per hour. That is the only way we can be clearly said to have intervened seriously and that is the only platform we can use to allow the inflow of rice paddy from Kebbi State.
“You will all recall that we just signed an MoU with Kebbi State and the intention is that we want a consistent flow of raw materials to come so that the era of importing rice from abroad would become a thing of the past.”
He said aside Kebbi State, Lagos was also looking at possible partnership with other states, saying that on the long run, such collaboration will ensure that residents can consume locally processed rice within the next six months.
In a related development, the state government has commenced demolition of gated streets.
Daily Sun learnt that the government has penciled 62 gated streets for demolition across the state, out of which 28 gates had been demolished in Ajeromi Ifelodun area of the state. The state government, because of the traffic gridlock in the state had, before now, ordered all streets to be left open between 5:00 am and 12 midnight so that motorists could navigate through them in order to curb traffic gridlock.
To make good its threat, government officials escorted by the Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit stormed Ajeromi Ifelodun on Monday and demolished 28 gated streets which were locked against motorists.
Commenting, on the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Affairs, Alhaji Tajudeen Quadri noted that the removal of the gated streets had to be done after series of awareness campaign by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs on the need to adhere strictly to state government directives.