Lagos Carnival 2013

CMC, Lagos Island. 1955

Ropeways Transport floats N81bn Lagos Cable Car mass transit system

Ropeways Transport Limited is investing $500 million (about N81 billion) to launch a cable car mass urban transit system in the nation’s commercial capital, Lagos. The cable car transit system, the first in the quest in Nigeria to provide commuters affordable, safe, timely and stress-free mode of transportation, particularly in urban centres like Lagos, is being floated by a company owned by Dapo Olumide, former managing director of Virgin Nigeria Airlines; Yemi Osinbajo, former attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Lagos State and Yemi Ogunbiyi, proprietor, Tanus Communications Limited. Already, Ropeways Transport Limited has signed of a 30-year Franchise Agreement with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and the Lagos State Government for the execution of the project. Under the terms of the agreement, Ropeways Transport will this November, begin the construction of towers, stations and connecting network cables along various routes covered in the first phase of the project, namely, Ijora – Iddo, Iddo – Adeniji, Apapa – Oluwole, Oluwole – Adeniji, Adeniji – Obalende, Obalende – Falomo, and Falomo – Victoria Island. The project is expected to be fully completed and commissioned by early 2015. The transit system when completed will create about 500 direct jobs, while commuters will pay between N200 and N300 per trip. The African Development Bank is a co-financier of the project. Dapo Olumide ,chief executive officer of Ropeways Transport Limited, who spoke in Lagos, said the Lagos cable car transit system would provide an alternative means of mass transportation in the city and help ease the current transportation difficulties. He added that it would restore dignity to commuting because the current situation hampers economic development within the city and negatively impacts the quality of life of its residents. “By complementing existing transport modes, the Lagos Cable Car Transit System will play its part in reducing the traffic congestion in the city” he said. According to him, studies show that Lagos will become the world’s third largest city with 25million inhabitants by 2015, with approximately 12 million daily passenger movements and trips in the Lagos Metropolitan Area, set to increase at a rate of six per cent per annum. “The existing metropolitan highway infrastructure is severely constrained, with journeys to and from work within the city regularly exceeding three hours. In addition, studies carried out in 2009 on vehicle registration show that an additional 200,000 vehicles are registered annually in Lagos State. This equates to 222 vehicles per kilometre of road in Lagos, which by far outweighs the national average of just 11 vehicles per kilometer of road, with vehicles estimated to contribute more than 70 per cent of the air pollution in Lagos,” he said. These problems, he said, could be effectively eliminated with this new technology. “Presently, there is a need to ameliorate the existing congestion on the three bridges connecting Lagos Mainland to Lagos Island and to provide a link between Apapa and the Central Business District on Lagos Island, and also to link Victoria Island with the Central Business District of Lagos Island. These are what we hope to achieve with the launch of the cable transit system,” Olumide said. He described the cable car system as one of the safest means of transport worldwide. According to him, a 2009 study by the Vancouver Metropolitan Transport Agency in Canada determined that passengers were 20,000 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident in a vehicle than in a cable car. According to him, when completed, the Lagos cable car transit system would incorporate several standard safety features, including auxiliary drives and hydraulic brakes to prevent passengers being stranded, lightening protection on towers, ropes and stations, as well as solar panels on each cabin roof, to provide power for cabin interior and exterior lighting. There will also be passenger monitoring with CCTV and audio communication links and passenger address systems. The project will be powered by several sources namely, IPP’s, dual-fired primary power turbines and dual-fired back up power turbines, with sufficient number of static inverters to provide 30 minutes of backup power. The Project uses Doppelmayr’s proprietary technology. Founded in 1892, Doppelmayr is a Swiss/Austrian specialist company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks, as well as urban transport systems. Doppelmayr cable car technology has successfully been used in locations like Merida, Venezuela; Roosevelt Island, New York, USA; Caracas, Venezuela; Medellin, Columbia; Portland, Oregon, USA; and Tlemcen, Algeria. Others are Constantine, Algeria; Koblenz, Germany; Ngong Ping, Hong Kong; Sentosa Island, Singapore and Sky Rail, Australia. The company is also presently executing similar projects in Bosporus, Turkey; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia and recently in London, England.

Fashola Commissions Automobile Services, Skill Acqusition Centre

Fashola Commissions Automobile Services, Skill Acquisition Center

Jul 17, 2012 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Tuesday commissioned an automobile sales, services, training and skill acquisition centre in Ikeja saying the biggest achievement of the Government from the centre would be the qualified personnel that would be produced there from. The automobile sales, services, training and skill acquisition centre named CG – Eko LLP Automobile Centre, is a Public Private Partnership arrangement between Messrs Coscharis Group and the Lagos State Government which has revamped the old Eko Engineering Ventures Limited into an ultra modern centre for the sales and service of automobiles which will also provide training and skill in automobile engineering for young artisans. In his remarks at the ceremony, Governor Fashola said the concept and successful execution of the project underpinned the philosophy of his administration that Public Private Partnerships are very strategic tools for achieving its objectives in the State. Governor Fashola, who gave credits to his predecessors for their initiative in establishing Eko Engineering Ventures Limited, however, said the failure of the venture to achieve the objectives for which it was established probably validates the popular thinking today that there are businesses that government should not be involved in. "The concept of ownership necessarily requires that we should rethink and rework our models. It is not who owns the land; it is whether or not we can get skilled and qualified men whose core business is automobile sales, automobile maintenance and automobile re-fleeting to work for us, to give us what we want", the Governor said.

Fashola Unveils Co-Operative College, 60 Refrigerated Meat Vans

Fashola Unveils Co-Operative College, 60 Refrigerated Meat Vans Jul 10, 2012 - The Lagos State Government on Tuesday received the commendations of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina for using agriculture and food security to mitigate the social security challenges associated with the state's mega city status, just as the Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) declared that Nigeria cannot develop until her people go back to the farms. Speaking before the official commissioning of the Lagos State Cooperative College, Oko-Oba, Agege, launch of 60 Eko Refrigerated Meat Vans and the flag off of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme which took place at the Johnson Agiri Complex, Oko- Oba, Agege, the Minister said the road map policy document –titled Strategic Programme for Accelerated Agricultural Growth (SPAAG) which relates all the key agricultural sub-sectors with the singular objective of improving agricultural output, productivity and emphasis on wealth and job creation bears eloquent testimony to the state's commitment. "Lagos State's plan to create jobs while addressing food security is highly commendable. The "Rice for Job" which is the pioneering rice initiative for Lagos State has moved area of rice cultivation in Lagos from less than 20 hectares to its current 250 hectares and counting. In a sector that is experiencing aging workforce, Lagos State has done well to attract youths and sustain their interest. Employment record from the State has shown an increase from 300 youths benefitting from the State Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) project in 2007 to 1500 in 2010", Dr Adesina stated. The State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) noted that now is the time for Nigerians to think very simply but deeply that the country must tailor its demands to meet its economy because each time the people hold a party and consume foreign food items to the detriment of locally produced items, a foreign economy is being boosted. The Governor said the nation already possesses the land, water, men and now the policy to let her embrace agriculture and restore it to its pride of place, adding that even when anyone makes money the first urge to be satisfied is hunger. The Governor supported the Minister's position that the rice that are imported from Malaysia and Thailand are stored rice with no nutritional values to Nigerians, adding that those who export it do not eat such extensively preserved rice but depend on the equivalent of the Ofada rice which Nigerians have abandoned.

Collective Responsibility, A Must For Societal Growth - Fashola …Urges restraint, patience on the roads as winners emerge in 2012 Traffic Safety Advocacy competition Jul 5, 2012 - Pupils drawn from primary and secondary schools in the state on Thursday displayed their vast knowledge about how the roads could be made friendlier for the physically challenged at the finals of the 2012 Be Road Friendly (BRF) Competition with Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) asserting that the way forward lies in having a responsible and collective leadership from everyone. The Governor who spoke at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa venue of the event organised by the Lagos State School Traffic Safety Advocacy Programme added that this is not a time for finger pointing as to who should carry the can for the current state of things but to have a responsible leadership where everyone plays his part. He noted that it would require the participation of every member of the community to build the kind of state that they want as well as ensure that the people build the kind of City- state where the children can go out in the same way the generation of children before them could safely go out. The Governor said going by the content of the various presentations by the children they have spoken loudly and in unison that the parents are hurting them and are resolute about what they want in terms of road safety and would go to any length to achieve it. He added that the question to the adults should be: "Do we want to be part of this or we want to be left behind by them?".

Fashola Visits, Offers Scholarship To Students Of Vocational Centre For The Blind As He Turns 49

un 28, 2012 - As has been his tradition since the last five years, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Thursday celebrated his 49th birthday with students of the Nigeria Society for the Blind's Vocational Training Centre in Oshodi offering annual scholarships to the students and support for the development projects of the school. In his remarks at the occasion, Governor Fashola said the State Government would give yearly scholarships to the full capacity of inmates in the school as a way of showing appreciation to the founders, the Board of Trustees and management of the institution for the selfless service they render to the society. Governor Fashola said in the last five years, his administration has not only put in place a legislation to protect the physically challenge in the society, it has taken concrete steps to show a consciousness of the needs of the group. Among others, he said, Government had made it mandatory to include ramps and walkways while building hospitals, schools, courts and roads especially for the use of the physically challenged as a matter of law enacted by Government which sets guidelines about what it should do to give the physically challenged the opportunity to live a useful and fruitful life. The Governor, however, expressed dismay that some of the walkways have been turned to trading posts. He hinted that Government would continue to enforce the law to check those who fail to comply with the directive to keep the walkways strictly free for the purpose for which they are built. "It is not the money. It is the consciousness that they have abilities and we support them in living useful and fruitful lives", the Governor said adding, "Therefore, when we build roads, we must have walkways and this is what you see in many of the roads that the Lagos State Government is building today; pedestrian walkways to separate them from motorists". Appealing to the private sector to also contribute in making life more meaningful for the physically challenged, Governor Fashola declared, "Almost all the public structures we have built in the last five years – courts, hospitals and schools - have ramps where we cannot provide lift".

Nigeria mourns after airliner crash kills 153 By Hannington Osodo and Oludare Mayowa LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria recovered more bodies, searched for clues on the cause and declared three days of national mourning on Monday after an airliner crashed in a densely populated area of Lagos overnight, killing all 153 people on board. President Goodluck Jonathan visited the crash site in Nigeria's commercial hub and saw emergency services working amid the smouldering, ash-covered wreckage of the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flown by privately owned domestic carrier Dana Air. Jonathan ordered an investigation into how the plane crashed into the iron roof of an apartment block in the residential suburb of Agege. Search teams found what they believed to be the plane's "black box" flight recorder, said an official. "This particular incident is a major setback for us as a people ... Investigations will have to be done thoroughly to ascertain what was the cause of the crash," he told reporters. Jonathan, who arrived in an armoured convoy with Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola, got out and walked the last few metres (yards) on foot in his traditional Nigerian kaftan and skull cap to the crash site. The airline said on Sunday 147 people had been killed but in a list published overnight there were also six crew members on board, taking the death total to 153. An unknown number of people may have been killed on the ground. "They're still busy recovering bodies. I believe some people were killed on the land as well as on the plane, though we don't yet have a precise idea of numbers," said Tunji Oketunbi, a spokesman for Nigeria's Accident Investigation Bureau. Oke Osanyintolu, head of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, told Reuters at the scene that 80 bodies had been pulled out by about 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT). http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE85300K20120604?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

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Fashola Commission 20,000 Metric Tonnes Imota Rice Mill

Press Releases Fashola, Agric Minister Commission 20,000 Metric Tonnes Imota Rice Mill …Governor charges Youths to take up challenge to work on state government farms May 15, 2012 - Lagos State Governor Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) in company of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mallam Bukar Tijani on Tuesday handed over the 20,000 metric tonnes Imota Rice Processing factory, with the Governor charging youths to roll up their sleeves to work on the farms being created by the Government. Governor Fashola who spoke at the processing factory in Imota before he embarked upon a guided inspection of the rice factory said the time of miscreancy by some youths in Lagos State is over. "The time for wealth without work is over. You must all understand that no nation prospers if it seeks wealth without work. This is one of the places where we can create wealth if we go back to the land and farm".

Lagos Carnival 2012.