Welcome to another edition of Ten Things on the Record where we curate a list of things you need to know if you live or work in Lagos.
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- Lagos Blue Rail at last
- Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Sallah
- Gas explosion in Ijaiye
- NAFDAC and Lagos bakeries
- Lagos partners UK on waste
- The jobs of Eko rice
- Isale Eko gets new Chairman
- Hamzat claims innocence
- Refuge for GBV survivors
- Transport union crisis
- Seme border importation
Lagos Blue Rail Line set to commence operations in August
The managing director of the Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA), Abimbola Akinajo has announced that the Lagos Blue Rail Line (Marina – Mile 12) will commence passenger operations in August. “The first phase of LRMT Red Line (Agbado to Oyingbo) is also nearing completion, and we intend to commence testing and passenger operations about August 2023,” Akinajo disclosed while speaking at the agency’s Business/Investor forum, Premium Times reported.
Sallah: FG suspends rehab work on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
The federal government has suspended rehabilitation work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in order to ease the flow of traffic during the Sallah celebrations. The suspension takes effect from Tuesday till Sunday.
Gas explosion injures four in Ijaiye
Four people sustained varying degrees of injuries after a gas explosion in the Ijaiye, Agege area on Monday. The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, attributed the explosion to a gas leakage, Punch Newspaper reported.
NAFDAC to go after Lagos bakeries using pest-infested ingredients, contaminated nylons
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has declared war against unwholesome practices by bakers In Lagos state, urging them to stop using expired and ingredients infested by rats and pests to bake bread for residents in the state.
NAFDAC’s Director-General (DG), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, during her meeting with members of the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter vowed to enforce Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) in bread processing in the country.
‘’Detergents, disinfectants, engine oil/lubricants should be kept away from food raw materials. If baking operations will endanger the health of the public, then the agency will not hesitate to take a decisive action,” Adeyeye stated.
Lagos partners with UK to improve waste management
In a bid to tackle waste management challenges, the Lagos State Government has partnered with the British Deputy High Commission and C40 cities to achieve a diversion of organic waste from landfill and a cleaner and healthier environment in the state. The Permanent Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Gaji Omobolaji Tajudeen said the partnership will create jobs from recyclables and also reduce the Greenhouse Gas Emission from the current 25% to a lower percentage ratio, TVC news reported.
Eko rice value chain created 2,620 jobs – Sanwo-Olu
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that the Eko Rice value chain scaled up local paddy production by 63.5 per cent, creating over 2,620 jobs for residents in rice-producing communities.
“We’re offering exciting investment opportunities in Lagos’ agricultural sector, highlighting these investment opportunities and projecting the role of the capital market in driving development in Lagos’ commodities ecosystem,” the governor said in a tweet while launching the ‘Five Billion Series 1’ of the ‘30 Billion Eko Rice Contracts Programme’ on the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange.
Fmr Lagos AG elected as new Chairman of Isale Eko Descendants’ Union
A former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Adeniji Kazeem SAN, has been elected as the new Chairman of the Isale Eko Descendants’ Union (IDU). Kazeem was elected on June 23 at the Annual General meeting of the Union which was held at the Union’s secretariat at Isale-Eko, Lagos Island, Lagos, PM News reported.
Lagos Deputy Governor Hamzat denies renouncing Nigerian citizenship
Obafemi Hamzat, the Lagos State Deputy Governor has denied the claims made by an immigration lawyer in the United States, Olubusayo Fasidi, stating that he took an oath of allegiance in the US to renounce his Nigerian citizenship.
Fasidi made the claim while giving testimony at the Lagos Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
However, Hamzat in a statement urged the general public to disregard the testimony of the witness as it “is under serious challenge and in its final judgement, the tribunal will decide whether her testimony is admissible, given that she did not file a witness statement on oath and the self-contradiction of still using a Nigerian passport whilst claiming to have renounced Nigerian citizenship.”
Lagos establishes ‘Eko Haven’ for sexual, GBV survivors
The Lagos government has opened “Eko Haven”, a 30-bed shelter located in Ikorodu, to help survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the state. The executive secretary of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, while speaking at the opening ceremony of the facility disclosed that “livelihood support would also be integrated and made available for survivors through Eko Haven.”
Call Oba Adesina to order, RTEAN leader urges Sanwo-Olu, Police
The acting Chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, Aransiola Qudus has cried out to the Lagos State Governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, and the Commissioner of Police to help settle the on-going dispute within the transport union in the state.
Qudus accused the Oniba of Iba, Oba Raji Adeshina, of harassing and terrorising RTEAN members, the Vanguard Newspaper reported. However, the monarch denied the claims saying, “RTEAN should go and settle its internal squabbles and leave me out of it.”
Customs say ban of vehicle importation through Seme border persists
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Seme Area Command, Hussaini Abdullahi in an interview said the federal government has not lifted the ban on vehicle importation through the Seme border in Lagos. Abdullahi explained that the service only received a proposal written by some freight forwarders and members of the border community to lift the ban.