The Secretary to the State Government, Tunji Bello, disclosed the latest development in a statement released today. According to the statement, Ambode commends Osinbajo for granting the request of the state government to do the road. He described the action of the acting president as his own 50th birthday gift to the state.
“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 heartwarming one. Posterity will never forget this genuine developmental action”Ambode said in the statement
Recall that in March this year, Ambode told the state residents at a function that his administration had the money and design for the reconstruction of the road which had become a national disgrace but that the Federal government was however hesitant in giving the state the approval to reconstruct the road. This had at the time caused a friction between him and his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, who is the current Minister for Power, Works and Housing.
“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.
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,” Ambode had said then.
In his response, Fashola had said that the delay in granting the request of the state government was because the Memorandum conveying the request of Lagos State which was already before the Federal Executive Council has not reached completion stage.
“The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing Ministry has presented the Memorandum conveying the request of the Lagos State Government to the Federal Executive Council as was done with a similar request by the Kaduna State Government in 2016. Due to the fact that two of the roads also connect Ogun State, the Federal Executive Council could not reach an immediate decision on them because it requested the input of the other State Government affected”.
Osinbajo has granted the permission and the state will now do the reconstruction of the road.
