According to Vanguard,
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Tuesday accused the ministry of delaying the work. He also said the ministry and Security Services have denied the State Government access to the Presidential Lodge in Lagos, six months after President Muhammadu Buhari approved of it for the State.
In a statement signed yesterday by his Special Assistant on Communications, Mr Akeem Bello, Power, Works and Housing minister, Babatunde Fashola who happened to be Ambode’s immediate successor as Lagos State governor said: ‘’The attention of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has been drawn to certain statements credited to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode claiming that the “Federal Ministry of Works” has been frustrating the efforts of his administration to carry out a “total reconstruction of the International Airport Road from Oshodi.
Fashola
‘’The Governor also reportedly accused the “Federal Ministry of Works and Housing” and Security Services of denying the State Government access to the Presidential Lodge in Lagos six months after President Muhammadu Buhari approved it off for the State.
‘’This response is to ensure that members of the public are not misled by deliberate or inadvertent misstatements.
‘’The allegations of lack of cooperation from the Ministry and frustration of Lagos State Government development initiatives are simply not true and the facts do not bear them out.
‘’In 2016, the Hon Minister for Power Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, approved the use of the Federal Ministry of works yard at Oworonsoki for Lagos State Government to create a lay-by to ease traffic.
The Hon Minister also approved that Lagos State be granted the Rights to manage the Street Lighting on the 3rd Mainland Bridge to support the security initiatives of the State, a request which the previous Federal Government administration had denied Lagos State for years.
‘’During the same year the Hon Minister also supported the approval of the World Bank Loan of $200m to Lagos State, again a request the previous administration had denied Lagos State.
‘’As far as International Airport Road which is currently the ground for alleged “frustration” is concerned, the correct position is that the Lagos State Government presented a request for four roads that it would wish to take over.
‘’This is consistent with the position being canvassed by the Minister for States who are interested to apply to take over Roads that are within their states.”
‘’The 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.
‘’The Kaduna State Government requested the Federal Government to transfer two roads within Kaduna Metropolis to the State in November 2015. Due process was followed and the request of the State Government was approved in August 2016, a period of ten months.
‘’Federal Executive Council Memorandum are debated and commented upon by all members and in cases of roads, surveys, maps and other material have to be provided to assist members understand the location and connectivity of the roads, (in this case Four roads), in order to assist how they vote on the Memorandum.
‘’As far as the Presidential Lodge is concerned, it is under the management of the Presidency and not the Ministry.
‘’After the approval by Mr President that the Presidential Lodge be handed over to the State Government, there was a directive to the Ministry to work out the modalities for handing over.
‘’The Ministry has prepared a vesting instrument to convey the transfer and all that is needed is a survey plan.
‘’The Presidential Lodge is a high security location and officials of the Ministry also require security clearance to enter in order to do any works.
‘’Access to the lodge is not under the control of the Ministry.
‘’The motive behind this public accusations must therefore be scrutinized coming barely a week after the Governor spoke with the Honorable Minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN on the outstanding requests of the State for several minutes and the Minister took time to explain the situation of things to the Governor. (The first telephone conversation the Governor has had with the Minister since May 29, 2015).
‘’If there is any lack of co-operation it is on the part of the State Government that has refused to acknowledge not to talk of approving the Ministry’s request for Land of the National Housing Programme in Lagos.
‘’The Ministry is not frustrated by this lack of response and remains optimistic that a response will come from Lagos State.
‘’The Ministry remains committed to serving the Government and Good People of Lagos and will treat all their requests on Merit and in accordance with necessary due process as will be done to other States.
‘’As far as the refund of N51Billion is concerned this is not a new item. Almost all if not all states have these claims and the Federal Ministry of Power Works and Housing has verified these claims.
‘’What is left is the process of raising the finance to pay the Debt owed to the States.
‘’Those who are familiar with the workings of Government will attest to the fact that it is an intricate sequence of processses, consultation and collaboration.
‘’Equating processes to a lack of co-operation is therefore akin to creating a storm in a tea cup.’’

Fashola the turncoat

....

It seems Fashola has an axe to grind. I think he doesn't support Ambode and doesn't want the guy succeed. By the way, what exactly did Fashola do that is so special in Lagos? Fashola only worked well in Lagos in the first three years of his first term in Lagos.

Why was same request made by Kaduna State government got approved while that of Lagos yet to be discussed at the executive council meetings? I never liked that guy from day one with so much brouhaha about him during his 8 years in Lagos. Fashola is a deceptive, turncoat and corrupt human being.

FastShipping:
It seems Fashola has an axe to grind. I think he doesn't support Ambode and doesn't want the guy succeed. By the way, what exactly did Fashola do that is so special in Lagos? Fashola only worked well in Lagos in the first three years of his first term in Lagos.

Why was same request made by Kaduna State government got approved while that of Lagos yet to be discussed at the executive council meetings? I never liked that guy from day one with so much brouhaha about him during his 8 years in Lagos. Fashola is a deceptive, turncoat and corrupt human being.

I'm assuming you did not understand what you read.

It was clearly stated that the Kaduna roads were totally within the confines of the state therefore not needing an adjoining state for input.

Even at that the Kaduna request was made in 2015 and after 10 months the request was granted in 2016.

On the other hand 2 of the 4 roads requested by Lagos state are shared by neighbouring states therefore needing the other state government's input.

Hmmm

GavelSlam:

I'm assuming you did not understand what you read.

It was clearly stated that the Kaduna roads were totally within the confines of the state therefore not needing an adjoining state for input.

Even at that the Kaduna request was made in 2015 and after 10 months the request was granted in 2016.

On the other hand 2 of the 4 roads requested by Lagos state are shared by neighbouring states therefore needing the other state government's input.

I don't know what you read. Fashola band boy, please read the quoted. So what if other roads involved are linked to other states? We are talking about airport road here. Ambode specifically spoke about the airport road and not any other roads with vested interest. Ambode never made mention of other roads linking Lagos to other states. Fashola can spin it anyway he likes. It is what it is. He has an axe to grind with Ambode because of what happened between them in the past.

I am on Ambode side here. Ambode has surpassed his record in Lagos in a short period and Mr. Fashole hates that.

’As far as International Airport Road which is currently the ground for alleged “frustration” is concerned, the correct position is that the Lagos State Government presented a request for four roads that it would wish to take over.
‘’This is consistent with the position being canvassed by the Minister for States who are interested to apply to take over Roads that are within their states.”
‘’The 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.

FastShipping:


I don't know what you read. Fashola band boy, please read the quoted. So what if the roads liked to other states. We are talking about airport road here. Fashola can spin it anyway he likes. It is what it is. He has an axe to grind with Ambode because of what happened between them in the past.

’As far as International Airport Road which is currently the ground for alleged “frustration” is concerned, the correct position is that the Lagos State Government presented a request for four roads that it would wish to take over.
‘’This is consistent with the position being canvassed by the Minister for States who are interested to apply to take over Roads that are within their states.”
‘’The 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.

Where is the contradiction, or controversy you are so willing to amplify?

It took 10 months for a decision to be made for an application for 2 roads all within the limits of a state. Note the application was made in 2015 and granted in 2016.

Why scream blue murder blaming the ministry when the Executive council is yet to make a decision?

GavelSlam:


Where is the contradiction, or controversy you are so willing to amplify?

It took 10 months for a decision to be made for an application for 2 roads all within the limits of a state. Note the application was made in 2015 and granted in 2016.

Why scream blue murder blaming the ministry when the Executive council is yet to make a decision?

Fashola has an axe to grind.

FastShipping:



Fashola has an axe to grind.

It could also be spinned as Ambode making a mountain of a molehill.

It could also be construed as administrative bottleneck due to the workings of state bureaucracy.

Yet another way one might look at it is a breakdown in communication between governments.

I see you've taken your pick.

Fashola just wants to pls Buhari. Dats all

All the reasons or excuses given by the ministry is so lame that I couldn't comprehend.

You need Ogun state to give the ministry clearance to do a federal road. What clearance do you need on that, afterall, it's a federal road and Lagos is prepared to do it.

2. You need security clearance to enter presidential Lodge, is this for real? Mr President has handed it over, are they still going to be securing the place after handover? How long does it take to decimate the security features there or does this validate the argument that our security is being coordinated by the Israelis?

Why are these politicians mischievously useless like this? Are they cursed or what?

Does Fashola have a special road from the airport to his house? That road is a bad market to Nigeria. It's an eye sore.

May God help Fashola though, it seems people are hell bent on vilifying this man when there is no obvious cogent facts to justify so.

This rejoinder by the Ministry gave Fashola up, this man stop being jealous of Governor Ambode. Government officials will always blame their mediocrity and incompetence on administrative bottlenecks.

Fooliticians (TM)
Foolitics at work.

A little digression happened in that statement, for God sake Oshodi airport road has nothing to do with Ogun state. Presidential lounge has nothing to do with road. Maybe I don't understood what he mean?

Something is fishy here! Of I see no reason why fashola cant fastrack d process of handing over Airport road to Lagos state.. But he need to remember dat d post he is in presently is not permanent, he should do d needful!

We

you mean there is no form of fast-track except for lasg to wait for about a year plus? moreover, no correlation between the road and ogun state that should stop the approval.
AkwaIbom(Akpabio) did ikot ekpene road down to Abia boundary with the state, ditto for the one at Itu linking CrossRiver, yet the portion of that of Abia and CrossRiver was an eyesore, are you now telling us that Akwaibom had to wait for the other two states to approve the project?
On the lodge, how long does a security clearance take before you access a building? haba, fear God now, your statement is more political than logical.
If you have no clearance despite the presidential order, i think the right thing to have done is to write the president.
On survey plan and the likes, na FEC wan do survey for your ministry, was there no existing survey of the roads and lodge, why not work with that, alter that which needs to be altered. Daddy Fashola, you are not making sense sir.