Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Fashola Awards N4Billion Contract For Construction Of Courts

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The administration of governor Babatunde Fashola has awarded contracts for the construction and rehabilitation of courts in the state, at a cost of N4 billion.

This involves the construction and rehabilitation of 12 courts in the state, while N2.8 billion has been paid as mobilization fees to the contractors, which include Moremo Group, Cubic Homes, Barrows Construction Limited, Numbers Limited, Equity Foundation, Messrs Moreno Plc, Ershaw Nigeria Limited, Integrated Project and Messrs Sageto Limited. The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olasupo Shasore (SAN), disclosed this, this morning, at a news conference, adding that while some of the projects were at advanced stages of completion, some have already been completed while others are just starting.

Shasore also disclosed that in the last one year, 1,072 criminal prosecutions were instituted involving 3,836 defendants, out of which 1,831 were convicted. “These cases involving law and order offences ranging from violations of road traffic laws, environmental sanitation offences laws and street trading were prosecuted at the special offences courts by state counsel from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions,” he stated. He further disclosed that 250 cases were pending in various courts within and outside the state while 50 new cases were instituted against the state government.

The commissioner said in the last one year, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) secured 255 case files from the Nigeria Police and issued 149 legal advice, adding that 65 cases were not recommended for prosecution. “Thirty fresh cases were instituted at the High Court while 11 cases were prosecuted at the Magistrate’s Courts, while the DPP has 29 appeals pending at the Court of Appeal. “The DPP participated in 115 applications for bail and the enforcement of fundamental human rights, out of which 19 applications were struck out,” he said.

The Attorney-General also disclosed that the Directorate of Commercial Law (DCL), in his ministry, generated N160.4 million for the state government from payment of agreement fees by contractors. The DCL also generated N2.2 million from transaction arising from the operations of limited partnerships. It is expected that revenue from the registry located in the DCL will increase significantly because of the volume of transactions that will be generated by the registration of limited liability partnerships following the amendment of the partnership law of Lagos state to provide for the registration of limited liability partnerships,” he added. Shasore said the Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) received 8,673 cases in the last one year and resolved 3,618 cases, adding that 335 cases were not concluded.

Eko o ni ba je o

o ba je ti................

LASG Pays N450 Billion to Julius Berger

Nigeria: LASG Pays N450 Billion to Julius Berger

Abiodun Jimoh

14 May 2009

The Lagos state government has paid Julius Berger four hundred and fifty billion naira for the expansion of Mile 2 to Badagry-Seme border road in the metropolis.

The construction contract of the about seventy kilometers road network was awarded to the famous construction firm and is expected to commence at the end of the third quarter of the year.

According to Otunba Idowu Ajanaku, Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola on Public Affairs, while featuring on a radio programme monitored in Lagos on Tuesday stated that this administration is bent in improving the lives of the citizens in Lagos as well making the state a pride of Nigeria and Africa indeed. Ajanaku averred that the stipulated amount would cover the cost of construction, payment of compensation to those whose houses or property were affected as a result of the demolition exercise being carried out in order to pave way for the expansion and other logistics stipulated in the contractual agreement.

Speaking further, he hinted that the persistent traffic jam that has characterized the road described as the gateway to the country, would be a thing of the past as the ten lanes is anticipated to have five lanes each on both sides in which various vehicles such as heavy duty trucks, trailers, BRT, light vehicles amongst would have their own lane separately. "The high rate of traffic jam that has become stigma to this road will be over since the State Governor Babatunde Fashola has taken cognizance of the dreaded situation by awarding the contract for the expansion of the road to Julius Berger. It is believe that work will start before the end of next quarter since it has been formalized, we expect that all those whose property will have to pave way for the project must have received compensation appropriately", he opined.

Lagosians, Fashola And Happy Leaders Of Tomorrow re-launched uniformed voluntary organisations and clubs in Lagos State public schools

Happy Lagosians And Our First Lady::Abimbola Emanuella Fashola Celebrates Internationsl Women's Day

Monday, May 18, 2009

Beautiful Lagos::Random Shots...

Lagos to compel landlords to paint structures on highways

By Akinpelu Dada

Published: Monday, 18 May 2009

Property owners whose structures are on major highways in Lagos State are now required to put them in good shape by regularly applying coats of paints on them in order to complement the government‘s environmental beautification programme.

By way of courtesy, the government, through the Ministry of the Environment, has written letters of appeal to the owners of structures, which exteriors are considered not to be in ideal states to give them a facelift.

Speaking at a press conference on the second year anniversary of the Governor Babatunde Fashola‘s administration on Wednesday, the Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire, said that the government decided to take this action because of its belief in persuasion and collaboration with members of the public to achieve maximum goals with minimal enforcement.

He said that sections 1, 5, 6, 34 and 36 of the Certificate of Occupancy had placed the responsibility of maintaining both the interior and exterior of properties on the owners, noting that it had expressly implied and consented to and had to be carried out for such property owners to continue to enjoy the right of ownership.

The painting exercise, according to him, had commenced and it is expected that significant change will be noticed in the next 90 days when the first set of notices would have expired.

Speaking on the ministry‘s efforts to encourage the turning of wastes into useful products, Banire said that the suitability of the compost being produced by Earthcare Nigeria Limited at the Odogunyan, Ikorodu waste-to-wealth facility had been confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives after composition analysis by a research institute, noting that the product was now being aggressively marketed to farmers and contractors handling beautification projects across the state.

To facilitate the establishment of more waste-to-wealth plants, Banire said that a standing technical committee comprising representatives of the ministries of Environment, Works and Infrastructure, Economic Planning and Budget, Agriculture and Cooperatives and the New Towns Development Authority, Office of the Surveyor-General, Lagos Waste Management Authority and Lands Bureau had been inaugurated.

The commissioner said that the committee had concluded the appraisal of about 67 proposals and invited 38 proponents of waste-to-wealth plants for technical presentation, noting that the recommendations of the committee to process agreements with four companies and sign Memorandum of Understanding with eight companies, three out of which should be allocated land for the proposed projects had been approved.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Lagos IGR hits N14bn monthly. Eko O Ni Baje Lai Lai.....

LAGOS — The Lagos State Government has beefed up its internally generated revenue from N10 billion to a monthly average of N14 billion.

Written by Jude Njoku
Wednesday, 13 May 2009

The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Rotimi Oyekan, who disclosed this at a press briefing to mark the second year of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration, attributed the increase to the restructuring of the former Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) as an autonomous Lagos Internal Revenue Services (LIRS) and the resultant increase in the number of tax paying adults in the state.

The Commissioner explained that the revenue potentials of the state were being extended to reduce the number of tax evaders in the professional and informal sectors of the economy, adding that government’s target is to internally generate N15 billion monthly within the next one year.

Noting that the revenue increase came solely through the enforcement of existing tax laws, Mr Oyekan urged all Lagos residents to pay their taxes promptly to enhance the accelerated implementation of the 2009 budget.

“The financial stability being enjoyed by this government is as a result of this visionary step of developing a finance model for the state.

Against all shocks and disorder being witnessed by every nation as part of the current global financial crisis, Lagos State has been able to weather the storm due to the foresight of putting in place, a financial model which would assist the government to manage its financial risk profile of the state and afford the input of any other shock in the financial system and absorb most eventful financial disorders,” he said.