Airport Road: Works Ministry Denies Frustrating Lagos State

“The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing yesterday denied frustrating the Lagos State Government from reconstructing the road linking the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) to Oshodi.”-This Day

The ministry, also, denied blocking the handover of Presidential Lodge, Marina to the state government, noting that the complex was not under its management, but that of the Presidency. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola denied the allegations yesterday in a statement his Special Adviser on Commissions, Mr. Hakeem Bello signed.

At a news conference he addressed on Wednesday, the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode had alleged that the federal ministry and Department of State Security (DSS) had refused to hand over Presidential Lodge, Marina to the state contrary to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive.

Ambode had equally alleged that the ministry under Fashola’s supervision had been frustrating the state government to reconstruct the road linking Murtala Mohammed International Airport to Oshodi.
But in a statement issued yesterday, the minister said the allegations of lack of cooperation from the ministry and frustration of the state’s development initiatives “are simply not true and the facts do not bear them out.”

The statement noted that as far as the Airport road was concerned, the correct position “is that the Lagos State Government presented a request for four roads that it would wish to take over.

“This is consistent with the position being canvassed by the Minister for States who are interested to apply to take over roads that are within their states. The ministry has presented the Memorandum conveying the request of the Lagos State Government to the Federal Executive Council as was done with a similar request by the Kaduna State Government in 2016.”

The state government explained that due to the fact that two of the roads also “connect Ogun State, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) could not reach an immediate decision on them because it requested the input of the other state government affected.
“The Kaduna State Government requested the federal government to transfer two roads within Kaduna metropolis to the state in November 2015. Due process was followed and the request of the state government was approved in August 2016, a period of ten months.

“The Federal Executive Council Memoranda are debated and commented upon by all members and in cases of roads, surveys, maps and other material have to be provided to assist members understand the location and connectivity of the roads in order to assist how they vote on the Memorandum.”

On the presidential lodge, the statement said the lodge “is under the management of the Presidency and not the Ministry. After the approval by Mr. President that the Presidential Lodge be handed over to the State Government, there was a directive to the ministry to work out the modalities for handing over.

“The ministry has prepared a vesting instrument to convey the transfer and all that is needed is a survey plan. The Presidential Lodge is a high security location and officials of the ministry also require security clearance to enter in order to do any works,” the statement said.
It noted that access to the lodge not under the control of the ministry, but under the control of Department of State Security (DSS).