E.E.R

LAGOS GRINDS TO A HALT AS PATIENCE JONATHAN TOUCHES DOWN TO THE CHAGRIN OF GOV FASHOLA

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The visit of the wife of Nigeria’s president to Lagos State on Thursday nearly crippled economic activities in the state due to traffic congestion, allegedly caused by security agents.

Goveror Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos state on Friday said that the blocking of roads and the traffic jam caused in parts of the state during the visit of the First Lady, Patience Jonathan was an infringement on the rights of the residents.

He said that the taxes these residents paid provided the infrastructure that ensured Patience had a smooth ride; yet they had their business activities put on hold throughout the period of the blockade.

At the 2012 retreat for members of the state executive and permanent secretaries, Fashola advised VIPs( Very important personalities) in Nigeria to consider the price citizens have to pay for their security measures especially the blocking of roads.

Fashola said, “Lagosians were needlessly inconvenienced yesterday (Thursday). It dawned on me the need for public officers generally to be more sensitive to the people we serve.

“It is particularly worrisome that this is not an elected person. I think we all must check how security agencies use the movement of high officers, especially VIPs, to disrupt citizens and taxpayers, whose money were used to fuel all the vehicles and all the apparatus that we used to block the roads against them.

“It is an issue that calls for greater sensitivity. I understand the need to protect the VIPs, but it must be done in a way that it does not inconvenience anybody.

“It should not get to the level that we close the roads in the state because VIPs want to pass.

“If they let us know earlier, traffic can be managed and citizens here respect their leaders and they will gladly allow them to go. “I don’t think they deserve to be kept on the road in a standstill for five hours.”

Fashola also revealed that Lagos had recorded 65 per cent performance in the 2012 first quarter budget implementation. He noted that the improvement was noticeable compared to what the city had in the corresponding period last year.

The traffic congestion, according to sources lasted for nearly 10 hours and allegedly caused by overzealous security agents who cordoned off most busy roads in Victoria Island when Mrs. Patience Jonathan was guest at an event held at the Ocean View Restaurant.

Daily official and commercial activities in the entire area was grounded as most people driving to their offices and homes were turned back while some were able to find alternative routes to their destination.

Workers and motorists who were affected complained that “As early as 8am, security operatives blocked the entire road, thereby paralysing activities on Victoria Island. Hundreds of people, who visited the busy Eko Hotel on Ademola Adetokunbo Street, were also affected because they were not allowed to come in with their vehicles.

“Most of us who wanted to get to other parts of the Island had to pass through Tiamiyu Savage Street and the traffic was moving very slowly.”

“The traffic stretched to Ikoyi and parts of Lekki and many commuters and motorists were trapped in the hold-up which stretched beyond Victoria Island for almost nine hours. The situation worsened when the First Lady was departing around 3pm as her convoy and that of other dignitaries, prevented other motorists from moving even several hours after their departure.

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) woman leader, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed to Huhuonline.com that Dame Patience Jonathan was in Lagos on a ‘thank you’ visit to South-South women in Lagos for voting for her husband in 2011 presidential election.

The event, according to sources was part of a peace advocacy programme in the state, and put together by Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, who claimed the event has no political undertone.