Is there any provision in place for the hawkers before they are sent out of the street so as not to encourage crime?
You know what, the truth is this, the law does not allow hawking and we are not going to be emotional about it. We will not say because people are vandals and they are graduates, we should leave them. It is not going to happen and the law must be respected; there must be law and order in the city. Now, there is the compassionate part of it which is how do we graduate them from street hawking to formal work and we already have the N25 billion Employment Trust Fund. We also have some other funds. Let them go and access it.
What is your plan on housing and what are you doing on the existing structures and housing projects that have been abandoned?
If I have the huge resources, I will provide houses for everybody in the State that wants it but the truth is that we don’t have the financial capacity to want to actually go into housing and the most important template right now is to do some private sector participation in the housing project. But beyond that, yes there was Lagos Homes and Mortgage but the truth is at what percentage? We believe that the rent-to-own policy is the best way to get our middle class people off tenancy. Most of the projects that we actually met are now being completed with the consent of the people, if you want to do mortgage, it is fine by us and if you want to do rent-to-own, it is also fine so that these younger ones can actually have access. Specifically, the one that I think we have not really touched is the Iluburin project, we cannot have a barrack on our waterfront. I am not going to do it and then the mortgage concept of the Iluburin project is such that upon completion, it is going to come up like N60 million and that is not low cost and so the best thing is for us to rearrange the concept of what that Iluburin project is about and so we are just in the process of concluding.
Can you educate us on what the rent-to-own housing concept is all about?
It is an housing concept that we have developed whereby you don’t need to pay a lump sum, just come and rent it and start owning it.
How can one apply?
The Ministry of Housing can be approached and I understand the Ministry has been doing a lot of advocacy on that. The Commissioner for Housing was on a television programme at some time and then you have the Lagos State Mortgage Board that is in charge. The LagosHomes is part of that particular scheme also and we believe that right now, people don’t have that resources to buy and with a small amount you can rent a two bedroom flat and then for the next five years, if you do that, the house becomes yours.
Lagos has received a lot of commendation on the issue of tackling domestic violence but then we need you to tell us a bit more about this law and how it has been used to protect women and children in the State.
Personally, I feel very touched because I can’t figure why there should be domestic violence and such usually robs off on the children and we have taken it more or less as one of the core items that we want to improve upon and I want to commend the Ministry of Justice and the other group that has been doing it. Our strategy is to encourage people to talk about it. This is something that has always been buried and we have seen in the last six to nine months, a whole lot of people have been coming out to talk about rape issues and we know that we have actually not even done enough and to complement that campaign, we have already approved that there should be a DNA Laboratory owned by us and between December and the first quarter of 2017, that Laboratory will be running and it will help us to fight our case in court when people come out with the issue of rape. The other part of the domestic violence issue is that there are even a whole lot of people who are being molested and then abuse in their homes and they don’t have recourse to anywhere and we think we should champion it and then I must also commend NGOs. They have been very active on this and we are going to scale up grant to these NGOs in another two weeks to be able to continue the advocacy.
As we speak, we have 42 official slums in Lagos State and the conditions at which people are living in those slums are eyesore. Why are we allowing slums in the Lagos State?
The issue of slum is also a spillover effect of population explosion. When people come in they don’t really have a place to stay and then they go to the slum. Now, we are limited by financial resources. If you want to relocate anybody from the slum, in line with United Nations regulations, you must create an alternative residential location for them for you to do that. Now, if we are applying our resources, we will not be able to take on the whole of the 42 but the plan is when you talk so much about moving people from slum, when you pronounce a place a slum, there is a ripple effect amongst them and we have issues of NGOs also but with some of the multi-lateral agencies, we believe that it is time for us to do a whole lot about some of them. Like in Okobaba now as you face Third Mainland from Oworo down to the Island, I mean that is an eyesore, it is not good for a city like ours and we believe that when we are able to relocate those loggers and the Okobaba settlement to Agbowa, we will be able to eliminate all that and then with a plan that the logs will not eventually come to the city of Lagos and will be stopping in Agbowa and Epe. That business in that neighbourhood will totally not be lucrative again and we have to now relocate a whole lot of them and more or less, we will do all that in a way that it will be convenient for them to move into where the commercial businesses are like we have in Apapa and Badiya, there is already a programme in which we try to regenerate most of these places.
What is the actual role of the Local Government and how do we engage them because it is like they are actually not effective in Lagos State in terms of providing infrastructure especially inner roads?
The inner road is actually the duty of the Local Government but again we cannot leave them alone to do it because of the issue of inadequate resources and somehow, we complement the efforts of the Local Government like what we are doing it with the construction of 114 inner roads simultaneously for the very first time in Lagos State. These roads are actually Local Government roads but again we are complementing their resources to make sure that we deliver those roads between now and the end of August. We get resources from the taxes people pay and that is why we are applying judiciously.
Why is Lagos State yet to conduct Local Government elections and what are the issues?
It is not in my hand. It is in the hand of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC). We just inaugurated them about two days ago and they will speak to the timetable and whatever they say we abide by it.
Lagos State is one of the few states that have successfully increased their IGR and we understand there is an agric partnership between Lagos and Kebbi and there is another partnership with Ogun State. How is Lagos working with other states to mentor them and help them benefit from the skills you are using?
We can’t mentor each other because the complexities of revenue items in Lagos is totally different from what you have in others and this is a growth plan that has taken place for over 17 years, it did not just start today and what we are saying is that everybody has to think outside the box. Again, concerning the fact that Lagos is now an oil producing state, we just have to appreciate the Folawiyo family because they have been trying to do this for the past 25 years and the fact that it is happening in our time is the grace of God and it will add to the revenue that Lagos can get but our drive really is that we don’t want to even entirely depend on federal allocation. If we can move from N600 million to N12 billion and then N25 billion, we can do it but we must commend the tax payers. They are the ones paying the money and what they just want is that the taxes they have paid should be used judiciously and appropriate it in a manner that is just and fair and create infrastructures for everybody. As we continue to do it, more people will be paying taxes and we will be able to create more infrastructure for them and that is the way to go.
With the school feeding scheme that is about to start in Lagos State, how are you working to ensure that the farmers benefit in terms of selling their products?
A: You see, the meal a day programme is not different from what I said earlier about thinking, planning and acting. You must get that whole template right where our farmers will benefit and that is what we have done. Any scheme or programme that we roll out in Lagos State, we are always very certain and sure that it must be sustainable.
What is the State Government doing about the Cardiac and Renal Centre in Gbagada? It appears that it has been abandoned and there is activity going on there?
Just two days ago during our State Executive Council meeting, we talked about it and you will see a major improvement in the next two weeks.
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