Roads: Gov. Ambode set to commence reconstruction across local govts

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Monday unveiled plans to commence the reconstruction of two roads in each of the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the state.

Ambode spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja during the monthly meeting with the Executive Secretaries of the 57 Councils to review the progress report in their various communities as well as their challenges.

He said that the first phase would commence with the reconstruction of 114 roads, two per local government, at the cost of N19billion.

The governor charged the Executive Secretaries to judiciously ensure that the projects were of international standard.

Ambode said the decision to embark on the road rehabilitation was in line with the reforms at the local government level.

He said the execution of the project would be left in the care of the local governments.

The governor, however, tasked the Executive Secretaries to ensure that only the best contractors were engaged to ensure that the prescribed standard was met on all the roads.

“We expect you to create jobs in your communities and get our people employed on these projects,” he said.

Ambode said that the ongoing reforms in the councils were geared toward making them more effective and deliver better service to their communities.

He said that the new structure which had become operational would go a long way to reduce cost of governance.

“With this new structure, a lot is expected from you, the Executive Secretaries. You are the face of the government in your communities. Your people must know you and you must know the people.

“You must have a good knowledge of their challenges and be able to, jointly with them, proffer solutions that the government can implement.

You should live with your people. There is no reason why an Executive Secretary of a Local Government should live outside his community, ” he said.

He reminded the Executive Secretaries that the performance of the administration would be judged by what they did.

Ambode urged them to improve on sanitation, primary healthcare delivery, primary education, local government roads and community security in their Councils.

He also charged them to utilise the various channels of communication to improve the level of participation between the Community Development Committees (CDCs) Community Development Associations (CDAs), Local Councils, Local Governments and the State Government.

“This chain of communication must be fluid and information should flow either way,” he said.

The governor also reiterated his promise to run an inclusive government and return governance to the communities, saying it was the surest way to give the people a stake in governance.