Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola has lamented the Federal Government’s decision to halt the State Government’s Ilubirin Foreshore Housing Project.
Fashola revealed the sad development to members of the Lagos public at the Lagos Television Ground, Ikeja, the state’s capital, on Tuesday at the commemoration of his 2,500 days in office.
The project, intended to hold about 1,800 housing units as part of the state’s Lagos Homes Ownership Mortgage Scheme (HOMS), received the stop-work order on Saturday when men of the Nigerian Army besieged the place and erected a signboard labelling the property as belonging to the Federal Government.
Fashola lamented that project has now been stalled despite that the state government had sand-filled the parcel of land in preparation for development.
“Ilubirin Foreshore land, where we were about to construct our estate, was taken over on Saturday by soldiers”, Fashola declared. “This is what we get for giving Jonathan 1.2 million votes from Lagos”.
The governor mentioned another land at Oyingbo, where plans of erecting 48 flats had been far underway, but was also taken over by soldiers at the beckoning of some unknown people.
Fashola decried such illegal takover of lands by the Federal Government, noting that such actions would only stall growth and development.
He insisted that the land belongs to the state government and that it was acquired for the state by the military administration of Mobolaji Johnson several years ago.
He bemoaned the treatment his state has been receiving from the Federal Government, describing it as unfair, despite the huge votes the state gave President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011general elections.
He complained that while other states who gave the president fewer votes were getting full ministerial positions, Lagos, despite all its votes, was only allocated a mere Minister of State.
Fashola said Olusegun Aganga’s ministerial position cannot be counted as held by the state because Aganga is from Edo State. However, he acknowledged that Aganga has been very useful in the development of the Free Trade Zone in Lekki.
