Ambode pledges to deliver airport road, Pen-cinema bridge in December

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has pledged to complete the international airport road, and the Oshodi interchange project by December 2018.

Also to be delivered in December is the Flyover Bridge at Pen Cinema, Agege.

The governor disclosed this yesterday during an on-the-site assessment of the projects.

He said the airport project was crucial because of its strategic location as an entry point into Lagos and Nigeria in general.

The governor urged the people to bear with the state following the stress associated with the construction.

Ambode promised to pay compensation to property owners with approved documents, whose structures were affected by the reconstruction.

The governor further revealed that the children and maternal section of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, called Ayinke House, would be opened for patients’ use by July 1.

In another development, the Lagos State House of Assembly has disclosed plans to reform the state’s pension scheme to add value to the administration.

The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, stated this at a public hearing on a “Bill to amend the Lagos State pension reform law, 2007 and for connected purposes.”

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, represented the speaker at the hearing, at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium in the assembly complex.

He said the amendments would affect only 22 sections of the 77-section principal law.

The Director General of the Lagos State Pension Commission, Mrs. Funlola Odunlami, explained that the state had cleared a backlog of four years’ pensions.

A former Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Television, Mr. Lekan Ogunbanwo, advocated extending the retirement age of specialists in the health sector from 60, 65 or 70 years.

The former Head of Service in the state, Mrs. Josephine Williams, the Chairman, House Ad hoc Committee on Establishments, Training, Pension and Public Service, Dayo Famakinwa, as well as the House Majority Leader, Sanai Agunbiade, made lofty contributions to the hearing.

Meanwhile, members of the Association of Formidable Education Development (AFED), yesterday endorsed Ambode for a second term, at a rally to the Lagos House, Ikeja.

The group, led by Mrs. Esther Dada, disclosed that they are members of the Itesiwaju Ipin leEko Vanguard.