Sanwo-Olu: I will fight infrastructure battle in Badagry

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s visit to Badagry Division last week was an eye opener. It was a popularity ride. The perception of townspeople was that the infrstructure battle train has rolled into the ancient town. There was jubilation that more dividends of democracy will follow the visit. Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU reports

 

IT was his first visit to the division. The people of Badagry and environs were excited. The crowd that met Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was huge. To residents, the dynamic and hardworking governor had shifted attention to the tourist haven.

Youths, women and chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were in one accord as they accompanied the governor to the Avia-Igbosorun Organic Farm, Mowo.

The significance of the visit was beyond Sanwo-Olu’s inspection of some facilities and projects in Badagry. The governor also noted the infrastructural challenges facing the people. The elderly, youths and children lined up in different parts of the town, waiving hands at the governor.

The people of Badagry, who could not hide their feelings for having the opportunity to see their governor for the first time since May 29, last year, poured encomiums on Sanwo-Olu. People bore banners bearing some inscriptions; “Sanwo-Olu is our Governor” “Welcome to Badagry” and “We love Governor Sanwo-Olu” to express their appreciation and support.

As early as 9am, people had converged on the Avia-Igborosun Organic Farm in Mowo, to welcome the governor, whose convoy drove into the farm. Sanwo-Olu, who was in blue jeans, ash T-shirt and a jacket with a face cap to match was accompanied by his Chief of Staff, Tayo Ayinde; the Acting Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya; Special Adviser on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Bonu Solomon Saanu and member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Badagry I, Ibrahim Layode, among others.

The governor exchanged courtesies with women, men, youths and APC chieftains, who had patiently waited for him at the entrance of the farm.

He was welcomed to the farm by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya,  management and staff. He inspected the 279-hectare Avia Organic Farm, which was acquired by Lagos State Government in 2012 for commercial agricultural project.

The tour reflects Sanwo-Olu’s administration’s special focus on Badagry, one of the five traditional divisions of Lagos State, whose mainstay is agriculture, particularly aquaculture.

Sanwo-Olu’s “Greater Lagos” agenda is hinged on a six pillars policy programme tagged T.H.E.M.E.S to deliver good governance to millions of Lagosians. The six pillars are; Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st Century state; Entertainment and Tourism; Security and Governance.

Agriculture falls under the fourth pillar “Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy”. Therefore, the governor’s pilot agriculture scheme – Lagos Food Production Park – is to take off in Badagry, prompting Sanwo-Olu’s six-hour visit to the town.

The governor spoke passionately on the need to revive the Avia Organic Farm, which has been abandoned, with some of the facilities already moribund. He said some of the agricultural projects to be developed for commercial production in the Organic Farm include fishing, poultry, piggery and agro-forestry, among others.

Sanwo-Olu expressed the readiness of his administration to revive Badagry organic farm to boost food security, He said government will revive the abandoned farmland for the take-off of the State’s Food Production Park project.

The governor also disclosed that Lagos State would engage the private sector to secure an investment into the project, which, when completed, would create thousands of direct jobs and improve the wellbeing of the residents.

He said: “I have been fully briefed about this project but I considered it necessary to personally embark on this journey to Badagry in order to take assessment and see what exactly we need to do in terms of intervention. After taking a tour of the project site, what I observed is that the entire project looks more as a job that has not been completed.

Therefore, we need to improve on the interventions to the Ministry of Agriculture.

“With very minimal resources, we have seen what the Ministry of Agriculture has done to keep the project afloat. Government will raise the resources and turn around this project to the level it should be. We will need to deploy more resources to revive and scale up all the machinery and systems already put in place. We will complete the project and open it for commercial production.”

The governor said the revival of the Badagry Organic Farm and creation of more food production parks across the State were part of the strategy designed by his government to increase food security level from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, thereby raising Lagos’ food sufficiency.

He explained that the project would pave the way for similar agro-allied businesses that would open up Badagry’s economy for more growth, while also boosting its tourism business.

“Lagos is a big State in terms of population, but we also can intervene in our food production value chain. What we are also trying to do with the revival of the project is that, we want to produce various agricultural products we can consume internally in order to reduce our dependence on external food sources. The Food Production Park, which we are creating across the State, will be a trigger to other value-added agricultural production our citizens can provide,” Sanwo-Olu said.

As part of the move to turn around the Organic Farm, the governor promised to rehabilitate Igborosun Road that leads to the farm.

After the tour, Sanwo-Olu drove in a long convoy with some party dignitaries, and community leaders to other parts of Badagry to inspect some projects.

As the governor’s convoy was heading towards Badagry, the people lined up, to catch a glimpse of him. Sanwo-Olu ordered his convoy to stop on two occasions to appreciate people. First, Sanwo-Olu, who was moved by the love shown to him by some children on the road shouting “Sanwo-Olu” and raising up placards “We love Sanwo-Olu,” stopped his convoy in the middle of the road to interact with the children. He also stopped his convoy at another location when he saw hundreds of people shouting “Sanwo-Olu” and waving their hands at him along Igborosun Road.

Sanwo-Olu, who visited the Badagry General Hospital, inspected some projects, especially a 105-bed Mother and Child Care (MCC) recently completed by the Lagos State Government in the premises of the hospital.

The governor promised that the MCC will be commissioned in September. He also proposed an expansion of the Accident and Emergency Department. The project, he said, will take off in the next nine months.

Sanwo-Olu also visited the Marina area of the Badagry town, where government will be building a modern jetty. The project, according to Sanwo-Olu is part of his administration’s blueprint to promote waterways transportation across the State.