iwaeda: Go and check tweets from Ministry of Environment, since when Mr. Tunji-Bellow was commissioner.Even after Apagbon bridge got burnt, Gov. Sanwo-Olu gave ultimatum for illegal occupants to vacate. You can Google search Egbon.
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I have finally remembered who you are. You are the character that has chosen to quote me and post gibberish. When challenged with facts or asked to provide evidence, you simply run away or post more gibberish like right now. You did the same thing on the Quilox thread.
My post was very clear:
naptu2: Provide evidence that they make this ban every year. Start from 2023 and work backwards. Give us evidence for every year for at least the past 10 years.
If the evidence actually exists, then it would have been the easiest thing in the world for you to simply post what I asked for, rather than the nonsense that you have posted above.
I have realised that you are simply trolling and that you have nothing sensible to post. Therefore it is not worth my time to read your posts or engage you.
I won't read anything that you post in future, neither will I respond to it.
I had a press briefing earlier today during which I passionately sought the support of all Nigerians with any vital information that can lead to the arrest of an Onitsha-Lawyer, Mrs Adachukwu Okafor who was alleged to have inflicted bodily harm on a minor (girl), Happiness Nwafor a child live-in maid by designing her legs and body with hot iron and a kitchen knife.
I am personally concerned about the health status of the 10 years old girl who is presently undergoing medical treatment in a hospital at Awka, Anambra State after the attack by her guardian.
I described the lady’s actions as unacceptable and unpardonable acts of child abuse, infliction of grievous bodily harm and inhuman treatment and reiterated the resolve of Ministry of Women Affairs under my watch to fight against all forms of abuse against the vulnerable children in the society.
I used the opportunity to place a N2 million reward for anybody with useful information that can lead to her arrest by the Police.
It's even most disturbing to note that the lady who is presently at large after committing the heinous act, had boasted that nothing will happen since she is a Lawyer and we are engaging the President of the Nigeria Bar Association to look into this matter, thoroughly investigate and take appropriate actions against their member.
On the flip side, the Ministry is presently on a review and regulation of the procedure for taking in house maids in Nigeria especially in view of Section 28, 1 (d) of the Child Rights Act which prohibits the employment of a child under 18 years old as a domestic help outside his/her own home or family environment. We will work with the Federal Ministry of Justice on this matter to ensure that we protect vulnerable children from this manner of avoidable inhuman treatment. Mr. President does not wish for any Nigerian to suffer unnecessarily and i will drive this matter to a logical conclusion.
Meanwhile, I announced that the Ministry will provide some succor for the parents of the victim to earn a living that will change their economic status and discourage them from giving out any of their children as house helps.
According to media reports, little Miss Happiness was attacked by her guardian who used the hot-iron she was using to iron her children's school uniform to stamp her face. When she jumped up crying for pains, the woman on sensing that her neighbours may be hearing her loud cry, tied her two hands up, pushed her into the toilet and locked her there.
With her repeated cries there in the toilet, her guardian came the second time to use the same hot iron and a kitchen knife in designing her legs and body. Speaking further, the little girl also stated that she was kept there for two days without any food or water. It was on the third day that her guardian on seeing her weak and dying, opened the door and bundled her into her car back and took her to her Aunt's place, at Nkpor in Onitsha. This is totally unacceptable and we will definitely follow this matter up.
iwaeda: Every year they make this ban. Can you imagine cattles being reared under Obalende. I went by on Saturday, it was eyesore. Korope, danfo virtually load on the road with people spreading their wares to cover more than half of the road. I know all those spaces are PAID for, Sola Giwa and Tokunbo should get to the root. Land /space is the oil sold in Lagos.
Provide evidence that they make this ban every year. Start from 2023 and work backwards. Give us evidence for every year for at least the past 10 years.
Originalsly, let me help you out. The only alternative to regular pedestrian bridges are escalators (I've mentioned it before).
Some people don't want to use regular pedestrian bridges because they think it is too much work and is too tiring. However, people can die if they run across expressways (I know people who have died that way).
An Asian city installed escalators at its pedestrian bridges because people kept running across the expressway. That way people don't have to climb up the bridge.
However, we need to solve the problem of (1) power source (2) vandalism (you can see how people steal power cables, street lights and manhole covers, just imagine what they will do to escalators.
For example, the city of Dhaka installed escalators, but they were not maintained, so they broke down and people started running across the road again.
Originalsly: No doubt ... but expressways passing through densely populated city areas either be elevated/flyovers or run below street level. It's for the planners to reroute the expressway. ... elevator it ... or have lights and declassify it as an expressway.
Money.
Is it cheaper to build a pedestrian bridge or to build a flyover or road tunnel at every point that pedestrians will cross?
(This happened so fast that it took my mind a little while to process it. This occured during the Marwa era).
A traffic warden was collecting bribes from commercial buses so that he would stop traffic and they would be able to load passengers just in front of the Third Mainland Bridge ramp in Obalende.
All of a sudden the traffic warden disappeared. Basically, Operation Sweep soldiers were passing by on Ikoyi Road and they came and carried the traffic warden into their truck. I mean that they physically lifted him off the ground (without saying anything to him) and carried him into their truck.
The second traffic warden (an elderly man) tried to intervene, but his glasses were knocked down when the first traffic warden started struggling.
And in a flash the soldiers and their truck were gone.
Originalsly: I don't agree with the pedestrian bridge.... cities for more than 50 years have been using cross walks at street level ... why are we stuck on these sky-high crossings? I do.agree 100% with the clearing of the underbridges and roadsides.... that N50 000 fine should be directed to them ... not pedestrians. His enforcement squad should ensure the areas remain clear.
Because of the definition of expressways. Expressways are wide roads that have no junctions, crosswalks or other impediments. Traffic is allowed to flow continously.
Pedestrian crossings/crosswalks are for regular roads, while pedestrian bridges are for expressways.
Expressways have flyovers, pedestrian bridges, escalators, clover leaf entrances and exits, etc.
Aha! I have written it before. All that's left is to provide some updates.
1) The commissioner has ordered squatters to leave the bus park that Governor Fashola created and he has ordered the buses back into the park (Governor Ambode evicted the buses from the park).
2) The old LSTC/BRT park at Keffi is now Ikoyi Plaza (a mall).
naptu2: This is another side story from the transport series.
The BRT inherited a lot of facilities from the old LSTC. This included the Obalende Terminus and the Keffi Bus Stop. I think I need to explain those two places.
Obalende
There is a serious problem with the place called Obalende Bus Stop and that problem exists till today. The problem is tied to the question, where is Obalende Bus Stop?
There isn't an actual bus stop at the place called Obalende Bus Stop and commercial buses just stop anywhere on the road in the area around Obalende Road, Ikoyi Road, Obalende Roundabout and the approaches to Lewis Street, Moloney Street and Igbosere Road.
Commercial buses often stopped underneath the flyover and just before the ramp to the Third Mainland Bridge during the Shagari/Jakande era. In fact, the bus drivers sometimes bribed the traffic warden on duty, so that he would stop traffic long enough for them to load passengers. This was quite dangerous because that area was the route that senior government officials like the IGP and the service chiefs used when going to the office in the morning.
The only proper bus stop was the LSTC terminal, but that was reserved exclusively for LSTC buses.
Governor Marwa wanted to solve this problem (in the 1990s), so he devised a solution. The LSTC system had stopped working before he became governor, so he opened up the LSTC terminal to the regular yellow and black commercial buses. The Lagos State Task Force (soldiers and mobile policemen) were deployed to prevent buses from stopping on the road and the buses were allowed to drive into the LSTC terminus, pick passengers there and then drive out without obstructing traffic.
Governor Fashola retrieved the LSTC terminus from the yellow and black buses and used it as a terminus for the BRT system. However, before doing that, he constructed a new bus stop for the yellow and black buses and that bus stop was beside and underneath the Ring Road system (aka Third Mainland Bridge).
However, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode came and undid a lot of the things that Fashola had done. He deployed mobile policemen and policemen from the Lagos State Task Force to the bus stop of the yellow and black buses and arrested everybody there. He also used heavy earthmoving equipment to destroy the structures that Fashola had built.
So we are back to square 1. There is no real bus stop for the yellow and black buses and they just stop on the road to pick passengers.
Keffi
There was also a large park for the LSTC at the junction of Keffi Street and Awolowo Road. You could also get good snacks at that bus stop in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That bus stop reminds me of the Scholars Bus.
Governor Lateef Jakande converted some of the LSTC buses into Scholars Buses and they carried school children (in uniform) to and from school free of charge. You might remember that there are a lot of primary and secondary schools near the Keffi area and so that bus stop was always filled with school children.
That large bus stop fell into disuse in the late 1980s. Weed and area boys took over the place. The place was basically abandoned by the government.
Governor Fashola rehabilitated the place and used it as a depot for the BRT system. BRT buses were parked there over night and it even had its own petrol station. There was tight security in the compound and I heard that they had installed facilities for cleaning the buses.
However, Governor Ambode closed the BRT depot and instead, Ibile Holdings, the company that's owned by the Lagos State Government, began constructing a tower block on the site.
There's the belief among some Lagos State officials that land is Lagos State's equivalent of crude oil. They believe that it brings in a lot of revenue, particularly in certain very expensive areas, and therefore, public facilities in those places should be converted to office blocks and other such facilities that can bring in revenue. This is one of the reasons that some Lagos State officials have been trying to close the Ikoyi Prison (they believe that there shouldn't be a prison on such prime real estate).
(I will probably post a link to this in the transport series).
Tokunbo Wahab is the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources.
Tokunbo Wahab @tokunbo_wahab
Earlier today, I, the Honourable Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi @seun_osiyemi, the SA on Transportation @Sola_Giwa, the SA on the Environment, Olakunle Rotimi Akodu @rotimi_akodu, PS ODS, Engr. Mahmood Adegbite @mogbite and other stakeholders visited the Obalende underbridge, Apongbon, Ijora and National Stadium underbridge where we gave a 4-day relocation notice to all squatters under the Obalende bridge as well as illegal motor parks operators and buses who have moved to the main road.
All shanties, dwellers, traders, squatters & abandoned vehicles presently under the Obalende bridge must vacate the area by Thursday afternoon as enforcement would commence in the early hours of Friday. Also, all commercial vehicle operators who are on the main roads in Obalende must relocate to the various parks provided for them because the government has had enough of the defacement of the aesthetics of Obalende by the operators and it must now be restored.
We also inspected the ongoing clean up of Apongbon Under-Bridge, Ebute Ero and other areas to monitor the level of compliance with Mr Governor’s directive that there should be no form of trading or habitation under the bridge and all adjoining areas across Lagos State.
The government is set to sustain clean and safe environment and in a couple of months, the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) will move in after the deadline to commence work on the beautification and landscaping of Obalende under bridge, Apongbon Underbridge, Ebute Ero underbridge, while the clean up exercise spreads across the state.
Earlier at the Ilubirin, a strategic project of the Lagos State government which is meant to regenerate Isale Eko and to do that, there is a need to get the outflow of water through the Ilubirin path.
I have also directed that the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps begin to arrest and immediately prosecute anyone crossing the highways across the State. Crossing the highways is prohibited by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Protection Law 2017.
As VP Shettima Leads FG Delegation To AFCON Finals
By Stanley Nkwocha
Vice President Kashim Shettima's engagement with Nigeria's national team, Super Eagles of Nigeria, last Wednesday at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament spoke eloquently to the connection between leadership and the round leather game. It also underscored the extent to which football has grown to become one of the most influential games and one with long-term sustainable growth and national integration- a sport that influences the social, economic, political and demographic aspects of a nation.
So, it was quite strategic that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has again sent a high-powered federal government delegation led by the Vice President to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, to stamp the President's unalloyed support for the Super Eagles as they take on host, Cote d’Ivoire in the finals of the tournament.
At the instance of the president, the delegation was in that country last Wednesday where it motivated the team to advance to the final of the tournament after beating Bafana Bafana of South Africa 4-2 on penalties. On the entourage of VP Shettima, President Tinubu's personal emissary, were Governors Dapo Abiodun of Ogun and Duoye Diri Bayelsa States; minister of Youth, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim; Wale Tinubu; former NFF president and FIFA Council member, Amaju Pinnick, and NFF President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau.
No doubt, the message of hope and encouragement from the President to the Nigerian team sank in. Unlike African leaders, eminent personalities and senior officials who are usually confined to a glass section to draw the distinction of their VIP status, Senator Shettima chose to break with tradition and was everywhere with the boys.
At the end of the game, the VP disdained protocol to join the Nigerian crowd in celebrating the Super Eagles' win against Bafana Bafana of South Africa. He moved to the field and danced with the Nigerian footballers as they Yama-throttled and gyrated in celebration of their win. In a moment of exhilaration, the vice president removed his face cap and tossed it into the ecstatic crowd of Nigerian fans, as they reveled in their victory after the team clinched a spot in the final of the tournament.
Back home, the morale of the Nigerian populace was suffused with the overflowing sense of bliss, love and joy that comes with the euphoria of being a citizen of such a great nation - proudly Nigerian.
Just like his boss, President Tinubu, VP Shettima was quite aware that the team’s superlative performance in the semi-final match against the South African side would be a big relief for Nigerians who hitherto had been inundated with negative public commentaries about the state of the nation in the face of frantic efforts by the 'Renewed Hope' administration to fix the ailing economy and security challenges it met on ground on assumption of office on May 29 last year.
That blissful Wednesday night, the vice president dazzled the Nigerian players with power hugs in their dressing room. With the demeanor of a tactician, Senator Shettima proved that he was also a coach - a motivational one at that - by the way he engaged the players and other members of the team. He told them that the government and the people of Nigeria were proud of their sacrifice.
The VP announced the federal government's pledge to reward the Super Eagles for their commitment and dedication in reaching the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. This was a big boost for members of the national team who, for the first time, felt raw humility and a tremendous sense of camaraderie from their country's presidency.
The message from President Tinubu was loud and clear: that he has unwavering confidence in football as a viable tool for national unity and integration. This, to an extent, demonstrates his overwhelming joy and keen interest in the game. “From the southernmost cape of Africa to the plains of Mauritania and the coast of West Africa, you have made us all Proud to be Nigerians! Go…Soar in the AFCON Finals. Well done, boys!” President Tinubu told the players in an update on his official Instagram handle that Wednesday night.
Ahead of their quarter-final clash against Angola penultimate Friday, President Tinubu had in a pep conversation with the players encouraged the Super Eagles to go for a victory. In muted videos that went viral on social media, the President was clad in the Eagles’ home jersey while addressing the team through a computer before him.
So it was expected that the President will again send the high-powered federal government delegation headed by VP Shettima to the AFCON finals in Abidjan where the Super Eagle are set to face the host country, Côte d'Ivoire, in a rematch at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium today. Nigeria had thrashed Cote d'Ivoire 1-0 in the group stage.
President Tinubu is convinced that VP Shettima and his team will give the Eagles another psychological and moral impetus of reinforcement to boost their confidence ahead of the match. He understands that the incorporation of football as part of a country’s culture enables the promotion of peace within that country, as different people from different ethnic backgrounds are brought together, with the soccer game as their unifying factor.
The President's keen interest in our national team is commensurate with the attention he is giving to other sectors in line with his promise to ensure a Nigeria with institutions that work for the overall good of Nigerians. He is not unmindful that under his renewed hope administration, the citizens need their hope sparked as demonstrated in the unquenchable desire to win a competition as much as they need the AFCON gold trophy.
That the Super Eagles are receiving maximum support from the Presidency to clinch the AFCON title shows the President's recognition of football as a unifying factor. It is more so especially after the 2023 electioneering process was able to expose the sharp division along ethnic and religious lines in the country.
Also aware that football is a multi-billion-dollar industry that provides millions of direct and indirect employment across the globe, with top clubs in Europe making billions of dollars, President Tinubu is poised to make the round leather game an integral part of our national life. By doing so, he will empower the nation’s youthful population and ensure our natural resources create vast opportunities for growth, innovation, and prosperity. This will create job opportunities for many Nigerians who are either directly involved as players, coaches, referees, or in sports marketing and media. In turn, this will help to reduce unemployment, improve income levels, and boost economic growth in the country.
As Vice President Shettima and his team embark on another voyage of discovery to Cote d'Ivoire for the AFCON, there is no doubt that such a gesture would prove the fecundity of President Tinubu's leadership prowess in turning every venture into gold. Time will tell.
Nkwocha is the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Communications (Office of The Vice President)
Politics › Re: LASG Gives 4-Day Deadline To Squatters & Illegal Motor Parks In Obalende by naptu2(op): 9:15pm On Feb 12, 2024
