Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
May 20, 2015 – A former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Chief Rafiu Jafojo has called on the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari to look into the possibility of creating Ministry of Lagos Affairs to complement efforts of the Federal Government at reviving decaying infrastructure in the state.
Chief Jafojo who gave the advice said that the ministry would help in managing federal government properties in Lagos and put them to good use.
According to him, now that Lagos has politically united with the federal government, the state government should make it count by overseeing the federal government agencies saddled with maintenance of her left over infrastructure in the state.
“The creation of Lagos Affairs Ministry analogous to the Niger Delta Ministry will complement the good work Lagos state government is doing. It will provide the most needed legal and financial framework to systematically address the infrastructure decay,” he said.
The former deputy governor noted that most of the federal government buildings in Lagos are in sorry state while others are obviously underutilized.
He said most of the buildings; including Old Central Bank building, Tinubu Sqaure, Race Course, old Foreign Affairs buildings, old Secretariat building, National Theatre at Iganmu etc; which are in the category of national monuments have virtually been abandoned as they are in dilapidated state.
“These abandoned buildings litter everywhere in Lagos state. Most of them can be classified as monumental buildings. The neglect of these buildings has led to its decay, thus they are now soiling the landscape of Lagos State.
“Whilst the edifices are suffering from under-utilisation, in a more developed society, these buildings would have been declared a monument, where the younger generations will have the opportunity to learn about their past, ” he said.
