Ogun State Government on Monday said it would absorb all the shock that its proximity to Lagos brings with the influx of commercial motorcycle (Okada) operators to Ogun border towns with Lagos.
Speaking to reporters in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the Transport Committee Chairman, Barr. Femi Adeniyi, admitted many of the operators have started pouring into Akute, Alagbole, Ajunwon, Sagamu, Ijebu – Ode, Ifo, Ibafo and Mowe areas of the state following the ban on their operations in some designated areas of Lagos State.
Adeniyi said such migration from Lagos to Ogun has its advantages as the new settlers would also join hands with others to drive the socioeconomic development of the Gateway State to a higher level.
He stressed that should the “agents of darkness” among the genuine Okada operators dare try to practice what caused their eviction from Lagos, similar fate would befall such person or individuals.
Also Governor Dapo Abiodun speaking to BBC reporter from London noted that “as people begin to migrate from Lagos to Ogun, to either live, work or play, the state is ready to give them quality education, quality health care, transportation, clean water and clean power.”
The Governor disclosed this in an interview on a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio programme, Focus on Africa.
Abiodun lauded the decision of the United Kingdom Government to identify the state as one of the beneficiaries of an $80million Fund under the aegis of its Global Future Cities Prosperity Fund Programme.
The Governor said the inclusion of Ogun State in the scheme “is a testimony to the fact that the state is not just a Gateway state to Nigeria but the fact that the leadership of the State is poised to brace up to the challenges and turn all the push factors of the continent’s fifth largest economy to pull factors that can stand the test of millennial development”.
The Global Future Cities Prosperity Fund Programme recently identified Ogun State as one of the nineteen cities in ten countries that would benefit from the prosperity fund set up by the UK government.
The governor stated the present administration would give the state a facelift that would attract the kind of investment capable of turning the state into a city that would could withstand modern development in terms of architecture and infrastructure.
Abiodun, who visited Kings Cross Station in London, said he was guided by the fact that 10 years made a difference. (The Nation)
