The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has reacted to a comment by the Minister for Information, Labaran Maku, in which he said the only achievement of Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, is “environmental sanitation”.

Maku made the statement at the 2013 ministerial briefing on the transformation of the road sector in Nigeria, being part of activities marking the mid-term achievements of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He went on to say that the good road networks in Edo and Lagos states were roads rehabilitated and funded by the Federal Government, citing Benin Ore road and Benin- Auchi expressway as practical examples.

But reacting, ACN said that Governor Fashola’s refusal to honour Maku’s tour of folly remains the reason why Maku made the nonsensical statement that Fashola is doing nothing when every other opinion thinks otherwise.

In a release in Lagos, signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, the party said that it is ridiculous and senile for a so-called information minister to demonstrate this low level of opinion about a globally lauded government just because Lagos refused to entertain the kind of banality Maku and his ilk have employed to extort states in the name of good governance jamboree.

According to him, “Ordinarily, we would not be drawn to join issues with Maku because he does not know what good governance is and will never recognise one, if he comes in contact with it. We know that Maku is a professional jobber and for a man who said he employed student unionism to live like a king, says of the moral depravity of the character who is no more than a jester and praise singer in a government that has failed in every facet of governance.

“We know that Maku is merely vending sour grapes because the Lagos State government saw through his folly of organising a programmed revelry in the name of good governance tour when he had done nothing to uplift his ministry in the years he had been the Minister of Information. One would have expected a parodist like Maku to come to Lagos to unveil the new Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the new Lagos-Abeoukuta Expresway, the new Lagos-Badagty Expressway, the new Aiport Road, the new Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, the modern, state of the art schools, hospitals, modern railway, etc, which his government has fixed with the whopping 52 per cent monthly allocation it corners every month. But here we are, Maku jumped over the death traps which the so-called federal roads have become in Lagos to come and play pedestrian PDP politics in Lagos.

“If Maku in his voluntary blindness, saw only progress in the environmental sector in Lagos, can he tell us even one sector his PDP Federal Government has made a mark in fourteen sordid years of waste laying in Nigeria? Can he show us what he has done in the Federal Ministry of Information for the period he has been minister? Can Maku tell us any fruitful achievement, except the ones he conjured in the heat of his extortion drive, the PDP governments he has patronised in his tour of folly did better than the Lagos State government?



“We challenge Maku that rather than sounding so incredible to even himself, he should tell Lagosians and indeed Nigerians those so-called structures his government built in Lagos from which Lagos is collecting tolls. We feel it is a pity that someone that occupies such a position as Maku has reduced it to his low level by his infantile desire to take liberty with the truth because his extorting mission is the worst for the Lagos State government’s refusal of his tour of folly.”

Lagos ACN further stated: “One would have thought that once the Lagos State Government disallowed his frivolous jamboree of good governance tour, that Maku would have come to Lagos to show us what the government he serves as a chief propagandist has done in the health sector, the education sector, the security sector, the science and technology sector and indeed every other sector in Lagos, especially as they relate to Lagos. But he did neither of these because there is nothing Maku and his government can show for the trillions of naira it spends every year.

“But Maku, blinded by the fury of his unmet demand came to Lagos to expose the ignorance that has made him a misinformation minister who thrives in singing the praises of a bland and incompetent administration that has failed in all spheres of governance.

“Maku came to Lagos to play the blind PDP politics of denial of the great transformation going on in Lagos, even when his party’s governors loudly acclaim these achievements and have come to understudy some aspects of Lagos governance. We wish Maku some luck in this ludicrous mission but we wonder how Maku can recognise what good governance is when the government whose praises he blares has become a huge joke and a piece of ribaldry among Nigerians.

“Lagos ACN wants to tell Maku to concentrate on telling Nigerians what the government he is serving has done with the hefty 52 per cent of monthly allocations it corners and uses to feed indolent, incompetent bootlickers like Labaran Maku himself. We want Maku to stop fooling himself and extorting state governments on the pretext of conducting governance tours when the government he serves has not made any dent on the many gargantuan problems that continue to assail the nation.

“Labaran Maku is a poster boy of corruption. He revealed how he extorted and lived like a king during his days as a students leader so we believe his present sour grapes is borne out of the way and manner the Lagos State government shunned the revelry he is mounting all over the states at present.

“In the blind fury of such unrealized dream, Maku is acting deaf, blind and dumb in deference of the putrid politics with which his party has wrecked a well endowed nation but we want to put him on notice that Lagos is different from the looting paradise they have turned the country and the states under their control to. We want him to know that Lagosians know what good governance means because they are feeling and touching it. Lagosians do not need mercenary extortionists who do not know what good governance means.”
Source: Daily post online newspaper

The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has reacted to a comment by the Minister for Information, Labaran Maku, in which he said the only achievement of Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, is “environmental sanitation”.

Goddex: The ACN spokesman is focusing too much on tarnishing Maku's person instead of proving him wrong on the allegation that about 70% of the roads in Lagos Island belong to FG and that all Fashola does is provide sanitation and traffic control.

take dat: 70% of Lagos Island roads belonging to the FG? Are you sure you know where Lagos Island is? Or you just wanted to type for typing sake? Person wey never come Lagos sef dey complain! Smh!

eko ilee: This maku clown is still mad because Fashola saw his scam tour and dodge it...


Imagine Fashola standing next to this crooked clown discussing projects in Lagos state... Eewo..


1. The con man and extortionist is on his scam tour to show Nigerians ongoing FG projects in Lagos state, not to tell us what road is FG road or not.

2. The FG roads in Lagos are all old roads with nothing to do with GEJ or any PDP administration ever.

3. The clown said BRTs are running on federal roads, but Ikorodu road is not a federal road, it belongs to the Lagos state government, they run and maintain that road after the worthless FG failed to maintain it just like the rest of the so called FG roads this idiot was shouting all over the place like a lunatic.

4. Unfortunately, this clown forgot to show us the current FG projects in Lagos state.

Goddex: The ACN spokesman is focusing too much on tarnishing Maku's person instead of proving him wrong on the allegation that about 70% of the roads in Lagos Island for instance belong to FG and that all Fashola does is provide sanitation and traffic control. You see, our politicians are very deceptive because even when Fashola intervenes in Federal roads and refunds are made to him by Federal Govt, they will not announce it. Maku has this information at his finger tips and knew what he was talking about.

Goddex:

@bolded
Shameless liar, Ikorodu road is a federal road and also maintained by FERMA. LASG used to forward bills to FG for refunds whenever it intervenes in fixing it although they are now begging to take over the road because of the BRT it operates there.

eko ilee: This maku clown is still mad because Fashola saw his scam tour and dodge it...


Imagine Fashola standing next to this crooked clown discussing projects in Lagos state... Eewo..


1. The con man and extortionist is on his scam tour to show Nigerians ongoing FG projects in Lagos state, not to tell us what road is FG road or not.

2. The FG roads in Lagos are all old roads with nothing to do with GEJ or any PDP administration ever.

3. The clown said BRTs are running on federal roads, but Ikorodu road is not a federal road, it belongs to the Lagos state government, they run and maintain that road after the worthless FG failed to maintain it just like the rest of the so called FG roads this idiot was shouting all over the place like a lunatic.

4. Unfortunately, this clown forgot to show us the current FG projects in Lagos state.

Goddex:

@bolded
Shameless liar, Ikorodu road is a federal road and also maintained by FERMA. LASG used to forward bills to FG for refunds whenever it intervenes in fixing it although they are now begging to take over the road because of the BRT it operates there.

Ikorodu Road - Lagos, FG On Warpath Again


The Lagos State Government yesterday asked the Federal Government to order the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to desist from plans to commence the rehabilitation of Ikorodu Road.

It said the road which had been properly ceded to it under the administration of former President Olusegun Obaasanjo.

The state's Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, issued the warning in a statement, asking FERMA "to concentrate on other federal roads begging for attention across all the local councils the state."

He explained that the planned rehabilitation "can only be construed as an undue interference which will only amount to a duplication of efforts and a waste of resources especially as there are other federal roads in critical state begging for attention across the state."http://allafrica.com/stories/201301310480.html

We read with a sense of pity the story credited to the Hon. Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, denying the verifiable achievements of His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, the Governor of Lagos State.

On one hand we feel great pity that Mr. Maku has within a short time lost touch with the ethics of Journalism which emphasizes accuracy, objectivity and facts. On the other hand, we pity the country if the man with the status of Hon. Minister of Information can descend so low as to misinform the world with such impunity.

Although his reason for such inflammatory remarks is still hard to discern, he would have done himself and the nation much good by limiting himself to his brief rather than dabbling into issues he knows next to nothing about.

In an assignment such as Ministerial briefing, as Lagos State had just done while marking the 6th anniversary of His Excellency, all Mr. Maku would have done in his remarks was to concentrate more on the achievements of the Federal government if there is any and if there was nothing to report ( as is clear from his vituperation) he could still have done himself a world of good by keeping quiet (as journalism dictates) than exposing himself to such ridicule through the unguarded statement credited to him.

One is, however not perturbed by his behaviour since it has become his stock in trade going by the way of his earlier outburst on the National Assembly for which he later had to apologize when the House cautioned him.



We believe that if Mr. Maku had taken time to research into some of Fashola’s performance in the areas of Power, Agriculture, Transportation, Housing, Health care delivery, Education, Sport, etc for which the government has received many accolades even from PDP leaders, his submission would have been better moderated as a communicator.

The issue of Environmental Sanitation raised by him betrays his understanding of the pedestal for good governance in any society. It becomes apparent that the Hon. Minister was befuddled by the state of development in Lagos, the nation’s former capital that had been left to “rot away” but which the BRF administration is taking to higher heights.

That the BRT buses run on federal government roads is quite laughable. One may wish to ask that since the capital moved to Abuja, who has been maintaining most of the infrastructure left behind by the Federal Government. The questions are why has the Lagos – Ibadan road becoming daunting to the federal government and why has the federal government failed to replicate the BRT system in Abuja or all over the country.

Perhaps Mr. Maku should have taken a trip to Lagos to see the on-going transformation in the landscape of the State through the expansion of the Lagos –Badagry expressway into a 10-Lane highway with Light rail and BRT lanes, the 39km Eti-Osa -Lekki - Epe Express road, the recently commissioned cable -stayed bridge linking Lekki and Ikoyi communities, the on-going expansion of Mile 12-Ikorodu road, the greater attention to water transportation, the infrastructural facilities being provided all over Lagos and several other people-oriented programmes, before concluding erroneously that Fashola has not done anything in Lagos.

Recently His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was hosted alongside the former US President, Mr. Bill Clinton at the commissioning of the Eko Atlantic City where President Jonathan pledged that the Federal Government will replicate the project in other parts of the country and yet Fashola has done nothing.

The Hon. Minister should know that democracy is not about playing politics with facts. Also journalism does not approve of people giving judgment based on personal interests. The fact that we did not allow Maku to take credit for our project in Lagos in the name of “Good Governance Tour” does give him the latitude to attempt to discredit a performing governor who continues to receive accolades from across the nation and internationally.

The Lagos State Government


Fashola is working, Lagos is working.

bloggernaija: The federal government owes Lagos over 50 billion naira for monies spent on maintaining federal roads.
they cannot even maintain their assets not to talk of build new ones.
One would have expected a competent president to have done a few of these
SW
1 Expand the Lagos -Ibadan road to a 8 lane motor way
2 high speed rail between Lagos and Ibadan
3 assist in retaking the crown as the world's cocoa producer
4expandion of the east west road to 6 lanes

SE
1 built the secon Niger bridge
2 east -west high speed rail network
3 financial hub in Enugu
4tourism hub in onitsha.
5international airport become viable when there is business activity
NW/NE
1 Financial hub in Kano
2commodities trading hub like Chicago markets
3 textile and clothe making for euro/us market
4assist with cash crops and food crops

NC
Agricultural hub
1Food processing
2comprehensive rail network( needed here even more )
3 organised markets ,warehouses ,silos close to the rail network
4 comprehensive update of infrastructure with emphasis on schools ,roads ,hospitals and entertainment( tv/radio station) . Do that people are happy to remain on their farms
5 comprehensive irrigation and dams

SS
1 apart from edo ,rivers and maybe akwa ibom. this is a basket case .
However , I believe the tourism potentials of this area is the greatest asset. Even more than oil .
But you would have expected nigerian to have started migrating to the south south by now.

some require money but most simply require a bit of organisation and coordination .just a change in policy ,commitment and a can do attitude.

Many of these project are of national significance.they will make the country richer.however Nigerians like pulling each other down.

Fashola has that can do attitude and generally has a positive vibe about him even when he is going down hard .unfortunately ,the president gives out a negative vibe and always seems out of his dept.he reacts to issues rather than anticipate them. He seem to be an expert at creating controversies and then spending too much time lashing out .

stine b:
Expecting likes?

Goddex: The ACN spokesman is focusing too much on tarnishing Maku's person instead of proving him wrong on the allegation that about 70% of the roads in Lagos Island for instance belong to FG and that all Fashola does is provide sanitation and traffic control. You see, our politicians are very deceptive because even when Fashola intervenes in a Federal road and refunds are made to him by Federal Govt, they will not announce it. Maku has this information at his finger tips and knew what he was talking about.