The Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has granted permission to the Lagos State Government to embark on a reconstruction of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road from Oshodi.
This was disclosed by the Secretary to the State Government, Tunji Bello, who stated that the Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has commended the Acting President for his statesman-like approach to issues and for fast tracking the approval.
He described the approval as a 50th birthday gift to the people of Lagos State saying it was a further demonstration of the determination of the present administration to ensure the effectiveness of the Executive Order on improving the Ease of Doing Business recently signed by the Acting President.
“We are very appreciative of the good gesture of His Excellency, the Acting President for acceding to our request which is not only very timely but a very heart-warming one. Posterity will never forget this genuine developmental action,” Governor Ambode said.
Ambode also gave kudos to President Muhammadu Buhari for providing the enabling environment to attract Foreign Direct Investment into the nation, adding that with the upgrading of the International Airport Road which is the gateway to the nation’s commercial nerve centre, the country will attract new investments.
Ambode had in early March this year revealed that the State presently has the funds and a design for the reconstruction of the road which he described as a national disgrace that required immediate attention to salvage the nation’s image.
He declared that if given the approval, his administration was ready to hit the ground running and begin construction of the Airport Road within two weeks and finish same within a period of six months.
“The road linking Oshodi to the International Airport, you would all agree with me is a national embarrassment. In the spirit of the regeneration and urbanisation that this administration has set out to achieve, we believe strongly that the image that is exhumed by the decadence of that road must be repaired and we took it upon ourselves to appropriate the 2017 budget that the House of Assembly should approve the total reconstruction of the Airport Road from Oshodi to the International Airport,” he had stated.
“The State currently has a design of 10 lanes to come from Oshodi to the International Airport with interchange and flyover that would drop you towards the Local Airport. The contractor is already set to go and everything as I said has been completed and we already have the cash, but alas we are having challenges with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. This is a Federal and not a State road. The Federal Ministry of Works believes that they should do the road, but they have not been able to do it all these years past.
“I just want to appeal to the Federal Ministry of Works, to let go or reimburse us with whatever it is that they are owing us and even if they are not willing to pay us now, we have the money to do it. It is a national disgrace and we would not be part of it. We would like to do it as part of the celebration of Lagos at 50.”