Showing posts with label Community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community. Show all posts

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Lagos community protests abandonment of World Bank project

WorldStage Newsonline-- Residents of Badia community in Ijora, Lagos have staged a protest to Lagos State House of Assembly overthe abandonment of Lagos Metropolitan Development Governance Projects (LMDGP), a World Bank assisted project aimed at developing shanties and slums within the state, in their domain.

Led by their representative in the House, Muyiwa Jimoh and Prince Kayode Obadiah, a community leader, the protesters displayed various placards with captions such as 'LMDGP, tell us why you want to sack the contractor?' No roads for PSP vehicles,' 'Apapa Iganmu: LMDGP, your system five is a failure,' 'Our houses have been demolished, please help us,' 'Gov. Fashola, we thank you for using good contractor for your roads' among others.
 (LMDGP had embarked on construction of roads, sinking of boreholes, ultra-modern schools, complex and canal constructions which the protesters claim had been abandoned in the area.

In a letter addressed to the state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola and copied to the Assembly, signed by leaders of the community, it was alleged that LMDGP had taken over the project from the contractor (Seg.Mahen Co. Nig.Ltd). The residents wondered why the project was not re-awarded to another contractor.
"We are writing this letter to our Dear Excellency sir, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), the governor of Lagos state and the contractor Director, Mr. Dayo Oguntunde representing World Bank in Lagos State to please save our souls.

"The World Bank has visited this community before our communities were enlisted among the areas to be assisted and we are part of Lagos," the statement read.
Some of the projects already abandoned included Canal (System V), which according to the letter was supposed to  serve as alternative to the drainage had stopped since 2011 resulting into serious havoc affecting the whole community.
While championing the cause of his constituency during the protest, Jimoh hinted that "the LMDGP has terminated the project as we speak and has not re-awarded it." He therefore appealed to the state government to urgently intervene to save his constituents from impending danger.
In his response, the chairman, House committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity, Segun Olulade, who represented the speaker, praised the protesters for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner, adding that his colleague Jimoh had been proactive in his determination to making sure that the issue is amicably resolved.
"As a member of committee on Works,  I know the role he has been playing in ensuring that the matter is seriously looked into. I want to assure you that the House would surely look into it with immediate effect," Olulade promised.
Adding that the delay in completing the projects maybe due to the process of re-awarding the contract because the earlier contract has since been terminated because of misunderstanding between LMDGP and the contractor.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Burutu Community Petitions Jonathan, Transport Minister

The people of Burutu community in Delta State have petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, over alleged sale of their land occupied by the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) in Burutu.
The community, in a letter written by its lawyers, M.E. Ukusare and Associates, entitled: ‘Burutu Community Lands/Property Occupied by Nigeria Port Authority in Burutu, Delta State’ and made available to THISDAY in Lagos yesterday alleged that the Chief Executive Officer of Akewa Global Services Limited, Chief Kenneth Donye, was laying claims to a vast array of Burutu community property, which he (Donye) alleged had been bought by his company from the federal government

The people said there was never a time their property was sold to the government, group or any individual and wondered why Donye, who was among the people who challenged the move by the Federal Ministry of Transport to auction the property currently occupied by over 1,000 indigenes and non- indigenes of Burutu, should now turned around to be the buyer.

The letter stated that Donye had, through a letter to chairman of Burutu community and copied to the President, Burutu Youth Forum in the state, intimated them that his company had bought a list of 21 units of property at the Burutu Port Yard, from the federal government.
While questioning the legality of the purported sale of the property, the community however, implored President Jonathan and the Minister of Transport to “call Donye to order, as it is impossible for an individual to lay claims to ownership of more than three quarter of the entire Burutu community.
And also, review the purported sale of the community’s property occupied by the NPA with a view to ascertaining the true state of affairs of the said property vis-a-vis Donye’s alleged ownership claims.”
The letter said the community wanted the government to “pay the Burutu community people the accumulated ground rent due to them since 1968 when the last rent was paid by the United Africa Company Nigeria (UACN) at the rate of twenty pounds or its equivalent in naira from 1968 till date.
“And return all lands/property occupied by the NPA in Burutu to the members/people of Burutu community in the event that the Federal Government of Nigeria no longer need same for public use.”