The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu has announced that his government will implement 25% Reduction In Public Transport Fee and Will Feed 1,500 People In Every LGA Per Day.
While speaking in a media chat with Journalists on Wednesday, Sanwo-Olu said he is not ignorant of the plight of the citizens and is working on rolling out processes that would ease the economic pressure on them.
He said even though some things are not under his control, his administration is aware of the hardship and does what they can, including joining forces with other players to achieve an outcome that will be felt across board.
“First is to express one’s deepest sympathy to the citizens. To say that we are not aware or not mindful of what or where they are, will be insensitive. As a government, we cannot be everything and everywhere, but we can provide and create revenues for other forces to join us. There are some things that are directly under our control, but there also can encourage other players to see us, understand and work with us, so that the effect and outcome will be felt across board
“Transport cost is also a major pain that our citizens have. So, almost immediately from this weekend, we are throwing back a 25% reduction on all public transportations. We are working with the various unions to ensure that we also can support them, but on our BRT’s, on our trains, on our ferry services we are going to begin to enjoy that almost immediately from this weekend. I have given instructions, and so, they are working on the logistics for that.”
The governor also mentioned three working days for civil servants in level 0 to level 14.
“First thing we will be doing from today, going forward is to start with our own public servants and to say that given the challenges that we see now, can we even be creative and have flexible working hours? Immediately from next week, we are working out a plan where civil servants from level 0 to 14 will come to the office, maximum three times a week. We are seeking to achieve a process where people will slow down, trying to let people know that the pressure, you can reduce it from the work environment because we don’t want an aggravated public officer. Let them be able to save money and work remotely.
“We have a lot of online capabilities now. So, the first thing is to look at ourselves and be the first change that we want, so we are reducing the number of hours they come to the office. You don’t have to be on the road for hours trying to get home at night, so you can plan properly and reduce the economic pressure. Services will not be disrupted, if you want something, somebody will be there to do it for you.”
Speaking on food palliatives, he said, “As we speak, I am expecting over hundred trailers of rice coming up the north, and I will explain what is happening to our mill in a short while. We are doing this at three levels. We are doing the food purchase and distribution that will cover about 300,000 households that will have 10kg rice, 5kg garri, 5kg beans, and have other small things like tomatoes and the rest of them in a combo pack. The procurement of that has started, it will just be the logistics of how to package and distribute, that would follow.”
“We are going to be opening what we call Sunday markets in about 42 markets in Lagos. What we will see in those markets is the same sort of staple food items, but this time, you will be buying, but you will be buying at a reduced cost. We’re going to cap what you can buy; it can not be more than 25,000, and we will be giving you a 25% repay immediately there. The Sunday market will be open for the next 4-5 Sundays.
“We are now going to do what is called the soup kitchen. We did it also during covid. We want to identify the caterers, and we want to be able to feed between a thousand and a thousand, five hundred in every local government per day at the first instance for the next 30-60 days.”
Reacting to the complaint of lack of street lights in some parts of the State, Sanwo-olu said it is as a result of vandalism of cables by unscrupulous people.
“Some of the lighting we do usually have a lifespan, some of the bulbs need to be changed after sometime but more importantly, there is always a lot of sabotage on our cables. We have cables that have been laid for street lights and people go and cut those cables. Two days ago, we even caught somebody removing iron on our rails. So, we have caught a lot of people. There are people that are just vandalizing the street lights. They would rip off the wires from the poles themselves. That is why I mentioned we are changing them from cables to LEDs and solar. It is a lot of money but it’s something we would do intermittently.“
Furthermore, he said even though there are structural agencies on ground to ensure a strict maintenance culture in the state, the bureaucracy of the government slows down the process.
“It might appear as if we are not up to speed in terms of maintenance but that is not really what happens. Sometimes it is the bureaucracy of the government that also can slow down the ability to respond faster and even the ability to get money out. But we have the structures, we have LASIAMA, those are some of the things they have been saddled with, we have EFAD, which is a whole agency of government on the drainage side. So, all of those institutions are there. The only thing that makes it appear as if they are not is their plan on how often they need to do those maintenance those maintenance routine and part of things that we have said to them is to continue to front roll and plan ahead”
Chioma Kalu and Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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