Sanwoolu-Ambode

Projects Ambode will bequeath to Sanwo-Olu

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The now ‘abandoned’ Pen Cinema flyover bridge was conceived by the outgoing government of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to ease the frustrating traffic logjam at that axis of the state, normally occasioned by the railway crossing and a nearby road interjection that leads to Iju, Agege and Ikeja.

While addressing Lagosians on the need for the bridge, Ambode, who did not disclose how much it will cost the state to construct the bridge, a normal practice of the state not to tell its citizens how much of taxpayers money is committed into such projects, had promised that the bridge will be delivered in a record 10 months. That was shortly after a similar, flyover bridge at nearby  Abule Egba had been completed and inaugurated in a record time.  Based on that and many others his administration had seen to fruition, Lagosians believed him.

And true to his words, work started at the site at the speed of lightening after several buildings had given way to the project and compensation paid to their owners.

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But suddenly, politics crept in. The politics of second term reared its ugly head. Rumours, which later became reality started flying around that Ambode, whom Nigerians, not only Lagosians, had thought that his second term in office is a foregone conclusion started having issues with his godfather(s), party elders and other stakeholders in the state.

And while that was playing out, the project among others in the state became the proverbial grass that suffers when two or more elephants fight. Politics and not finance took a toll on the bridge; sources said that in an attempt to force the powers that be to give him a second term ticket of the party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Ambode stopped funding the contractor handling the construction of the bridge, which one of the godfathers, is alleged to have interest in.

However, other sources said that the contracting firm abandoned walked out on its own when it ran out of initial payment made by the government and new payment was not coming. Whatever be the true story, the fact remains that the Pen Cinema flyover bridge is one of the many uncompleted projects that Ambode may be handing over to his successor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on May 29.

And other projects, which may not be completed by Ambode and which nobody is talking about, especially those blowing his trumpet over Oshodi Interchange and the upgraded Ayike House, is a bus terminal very close to the Pen Cinema Flyover Bridge. Construction work at the terminal started almost the same time construction work on the flyover bridge started. The site where the terminal is located is directly opposite defunct Mitchell Farms Limited, which now houses a housing estate. It also used to serve as a garage to commuter buses plying Iju and its environs’ routes. Those buses have been chased into the adjoining streets and roads in the area, thus further complicating the already complicated traffic situation in the area.

Just as some journalists have not stopped regaling Lagosians with the tale of the Muritala Mohammed International Airport Road that he had ‘completed,’ the Lagos/Badagry Expressway rehabilitation, which he inherited from his predecessor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), is still practically the way it was on May 29, 2015 when he took over political power from Fashola who is now a triple barrel minister of works, housing and power (electricity).

If for anything, rumours have it that the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority  (LAMATA) sponsored rail line to Badagry in road is one of Fashola’s projects he has abandoned. Another is the Ilubrin Housing project, which he would have finished if he had attach seriousness to it the way he attached to his bus terminal or terminus construction.  That stretch of road is now a huge nightmare for those who use it on a daily bases, especially when it rains as it do now.

What of the historical Onikan Stadium, which he pulled down for reconstruction. Work has also been on a snail speed or abandoned out rightly at the stadium, which used to be the slaughter slab of Stationery Stores Football Club in its days of glory before it was disbanded. The club represented Lagos State at all football clubs’ level. In other to give the stadium a facelift like the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu did to the former UAC Stadium opposite the National Stadium Surulere, Ambode decide to reconstruct it but got stuck midway on the altar of politics of second term. Yet nobody talks about it; making Lagos an abandon projects site.

While all these is happening to the Centre of Excellence, this reporter on Sunday April 5, 2015, sought the response of state’s commissioner for information and Strategy,  Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, an accomplished journalist turn politician’s on why work has stopped on the projects. We also sought to know why the state’s landscape is littered with uncompleted projects despite its huge internally generated revenue (IGR) and federal allocations that run into multiples of billions in naira.

And this was his response in defence of his principal. “Expect elaborate reply by noon tomorrow” (tomorrow here, means Monday, May 6), he said and never gave elaborate or terse response as at the time of going to press on Wednesday, May 7, 2019 even after several reminders and a call that he never took.

There is no doubt that Ambode has done so well in the area of infrastructural development of the state as attested to recently by a veteran, journalist, Dan Agbese, while speaking at the recently held Nigerian Guild of Editors’ (NGE) conference held in Lagos, but his inability to complete those projects, including the ones started by Fashola, is a dent on his credential as a governor who came, saw and probably conquered. After all, “government”, they said, is a continuum.

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