Since a group of strange and hostile visitors came to Ajelogo, an area in Akanimodo section of Mile 12 (Kosofe LGA) about five years ago during the reign of Governor Babatunde Fashola and bulldozed the shanties, hide outs, houses, shops and structures and flattened the vast land in readiness for a proposed government housing and other structures, never had this devastated territory hosted such a high profile audience as it did on Thursday, January 19, 2017.
Hitherto, Ajelogo had been notorious as a den for robbers, all kinds of criminals and miscreants, who used the several hectares of land in that territory near the popular Mile 12 market as a haven and a mini republic of its own. Criminals and area boys and girls terrorized people around and enjoyed protection inside that enclave until Fashola sent in troops and heavy earth moving machines to render the place desolate for years.
So, when invitations went round that incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was to host the first Town Hall meeting of the year 2017 and the 6th in the series in this wasteland, it surprised not a few. Every discerning mind, which knew the history of this land, felt that this town hall meeting will be explosive and one with a difference. It was like taking Aso Rock to Sanbisa forest in Borno State, the den of the Lions called Boko Haram.
As journalists, we knew we will have our hands full on what to write about from the government perspective, the people’s perspective and the area boys’angle. As we drove in from under bridge at Mile 12 towards the former 
Ajelogo market road close to 10a.m, when the event was to flag off, there was tension in the area. People lined up on both sides of the road watching the center of attraction, the massive tent erected at the middle of the wasteland.
To set up this venue must have cost the Lagos State government many millions of naira. Whereas, other Town Hall meetings were held in existing structures such as Lagos City Hall, Ikorodu Town Hall, Surulere stadium and Abese Stadium, Agege (all of them well secured venues) requiring basic logistics and security provisions only. This one at Ajelogo required more than enough arrangements. To create layers of barricades, gate ways, entry points, red carpet walkways, surveillance camera locations perimeter surveillance arc, the equivalence of aerial surveillance, the positioning of layers of security men – namely soldiers, regular police, antiriot police, DSS operatives, LASTMA, Civil Defence, Neighbourhood watch group, etc., all amounted to a complex operation.
The distance from the market road to the main artificial hall (the big tent) was up to a hundred meters; hence, the vast area was to be covered by high security buffer zones. Car parks were created far away from the tent while the long stretch from under the bridge was filled up with all kinds of vehicles belonging to different arms of the security and paramilitary groups. The only vehicles we did not see were army tanks, ferrets and armored personnel carriers and helicopter gun boats, but it was obvious that the government did not take any security chances. Bomb disposal and anti-terrorist squads were even present because this area is a high risk sector.
As expected, the miscreants lived up to expectation. They invaded the area in their hundreds, menacingly marching around to assert their authority and to demonstrate that this was their domain, which was forcefully taken over by government. They were ready to confront anyone. They were out to get a bite of the national cake if they cannot get anything else. Hence, the security personnel were well informed to put them in check. To get inside the main hall through about three tight security points was difficult even with our official invitation letters. The struggle was like a camel passing through a needle’s eye. We managed to beat the obstacles and scaled the hurdles be inside the venue right on time.
A beautifully prepared documentary flagged off the day after the heart trumping, high sounding and mind blowing Ambode’s call tune. The brief documentary highlighted in pictures and narrative the achievements of the administration since the last Town Hall meeting 100 days back, covering the critical sectors of roads works/infrastructure, housing, environment, education, health, security, etc. Earlier, the moderators had recognized the dignitaries at the event. They included the Oba of Lagos and his counterparts from other parts of the state, exco members in Ambode’s government, eminent politicians and APC party stalwarts, legislators in the state and national assemblies, CDA and CDC officials, community leaders and opinion molders as well as other stake holders from the market communities.
The estimated 2000 capacity big tent was complemented by nearly fifty (50) canopies outside occupied by various groups, who could not be accommodated inside. The giant speakers and crisp public address system transmitted the proceedings inside in commentary form to those outside. Giant television screens also beamed the event to the larger audience. It was an unprecedented gathering, a huge audience very eager to see and hear the working Governor of the state. They were full of expectation from their Governor and Ambode did not disappoint them.
They urged the Governor to fix roads, such as Kujore Street, Quadri- Anibaba Road and others. They also wanted a secondary school for Agiliti and Maidan communities. Their bags of requests also had spaces for a new market on available land space at Fola Ahmed Street, fixing of the Itoikin road and transformation of the Agboyi-Ketu community. Ambode was ready for them too. He came with plans that will see new roads, link bridges, pedestrian bridge, jobs and others being delivered to Lagosians soon. Last year, he announced plans by his administration to construct 114 roads in all the 57 Local Councils and Local Council Development Authorities (LCDAs) simultaneously. He gave a timeline of six months. There were reservations in some quarters about the possibility of fulfilling the promise.
Time, however, proved wrong the doubting Thomas. At the town hall meeting last week, Ambode again unfolded yet another plan, which looks insurmountable. He announced his readiness to increase the number of the roads from 114 to 181. Speaking at the meeting held at the Ajelogo Housing Scheme, Ajelogo Market Road, Akanimodo, Mile 12, Ambode explained the rationale behind scaling up the road improvement project.
The Governor said: “I want to pronounce here that you should watch out next week in the newspapers; we are advertising 181 roads, which would be done in all our local governments. What we have found out is that if we decided to continue with two, some of those roads do not link other roads to the main road; it would only make economic sense if there is a linkage. So, you would see in the advert that some local governments would have three; some would have four roads, but the average is 181, and if you divide that by 57, that would be a minimum of three roads from each local government.”
Ambode said the choice of the roads to be constructed had been made by the local governments in conjunction with the engineers. In a convivial atmosphere, very friendly, very interactive and very down to earth, Ambode interacted with the people. He was very confident, simple, humble and polite in his discussions. He was in a perfect frame of mind, so happy and so relaxed as he delivered his address and thereafter answered questions that came up, responding in impeccable Yoruba language. In his speech, he used this platform to say happy New Year to everyone present, even though we are already nearing salary day.
“I purposely chose Akanimodo for this gathering just to reflect that this part of Lagos East has not been left behind. I want to welcome you all to another series of our town hall engagement.
At the beginning of our administration, we promised that we would run an all-inclusive government, which will not leave any one behind. We promised that we would always directly engage the people and that is why I am in Akanimodo, Mile 12 today. We introduced these quarterly town hall meetings as our platform to connect with people, not just telling you what we are doing, but to hear from you directly. This is the sixth town hall meeting in the series. 
You’ve been with us throughout this journey and together, we have made progress in building a state we will all be proud of. I thank you all for your steadfastness, your support and your cooperation to our government,” he said.
Continuing, he stated that, “As a government, we will not relent in our effort to achieve our dreams of making Lagos the foremost mega city in Africa through tourism initiatives and the upgrade of infrastructure to international standard. Today’s town hall meeting is not about speech making but just to listen to all of you on what you want the government to do for you. However before we listen to you, let me just give a brief of what we have done in the last quarter. I think the pictorial documentary that has been done speaks to everything that we have been trying to do. Like it has been said in the housing unit, we are trying to do it in a way that people pay us one month rental, i.e. one month deposit and go into those units that we have built because that is the way we can respond to recession.”
There are presently four thousand, three hundred and fifty five units available and right now, we have about five hundred applicants to qualify and the whole allocation will commence next week. I urge other interested people to just take that advantage. This is a fulfilment of one of our promises; it gives you the opportunity to pay just the same way I have explained. Once you pay the total cost of the property, it is liquidated over a period of years and then ownership is eventually transferred to the beneficiary.
So much has been said about the lake rice, the sale of the lake rice is still ongoing and we’ve been selling across all our local governments and our markets and it is still the same price of twelve thousand naira (N12,000). We are rehabilitating the Oko-Oba Abattoir Marine complex in Agege. In line with our promise to increase the meat production output and develop the red meat value chain, we have restructured the complex for improved operations. We intend to fence it round and clean up the place; it is in a bad state right now.”
Governor Ambode equally unveiled plan to improve transportation in the metropolis with the rehabilitation of roads such as Marwa/Depot Road, Ijegun-Egba in Amuwo Odofin, 500metres-long Imeke-Ajido Bridge in Badagry, Adisa Ajibulu in Oshodi, Adisa Balogun-Igboho Street, Alapere in Kosofe Local Government as well as the signalisation and junction improvement on the Lekki-Epe Expressway. He also said the Neighbourhood Safety Corps would become operational in this quarter with the recruitment of 5700 personnel, adding that 100 would be deployed to each local government to complement the efforts of other security agencies.
Year 2017, according to the Governor, holds great expectations for Lagos, which is set to mark its landmark Golden Jubilee on May 27. Urban regeneration initiatives will see Agric-Isawo- Arepo Road in Ikorodu, Ajelogo-Akanimodo Road Rehabilitation, Oshodi to Murtala Mohammed Airport Road and Ketu-Alapere Inner Roads Phase Il wearing new looks. Also to benefit from this are Oke Oso-Araga-Poka in Epe, Topo Garage to VIP Chalet in Badagry, Ladipo Market Road, Multilayer Car Park, Mushin. Bus Terminals and depots are to be established in Yaba, Ikeja, Oyingbo, Anthony, Ketu and Toll Gate.
The Governor revealed further that, “Our government stepped up activities towards community policing to compliment the police and other law enforcement agencies in the state. We inaugurated the board of the state Neighbourhood Safety Corps. The safety corps will become operational before the end of March. The idea is this – we will have hundred safety corps in each local government; so we will be recruiting five thousand seven hundred people in the next three weeks or four weeks. We will launch it with serious equipment that would be used to compliment the effort of the police. With our effort, a very significant reduction in crime was recorded in the state during the last festive season. We remain committed to a safe environment. Our expenditure on security has been fruitful.”
“In December we offered letters to successful candidates under the first phase of Lagos State Employment Trust fund (ETF) initiative. We intensified our effort to assist all our unemployed youths and artisans to access the funds available at the employment trust fund in this quarter. 2017 happens to be a special year in the history of Lagos because the Centre of Excellence reaches a landmark of golden jubilee on May 27. Adequate preparations are being made to ensure that the 50th anniversary celebration of our dear state reflect the rich culture and heritage of the people of Lagos.”
“In the months ahead, our government will continue with urban regeneration initiatives, building new infrastructure and maintaining existing ones. Some of those key projects we intend to execute this quarter include Agric-Ishawo Arepo road in Ikorodu, Ajelogo-Akanimodo rehabilitation, Oshodi to Muritala Muhammed Airport road, Ketu-Alapere inner road phase two, Oke-Osho Aragapoka in Epe, and Token Garage VIP in Badagry. We are going to establish bus terminal depot in Yaba, Ikeja, Oyingbo, Anthony, Ketu and the toll gate. Just the same way that we have the BRT lane axis between Mile 12 and Ikorodu, that same infrastructure will be provided between Abule-Egba and Oshodi in the course of this year.”
After his speech, the interactive session kicked off with His majesty, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos, firing the first shot. He spoke in Yoruba extensively, reminding the audience about the history of Lagos as capital of the colony and of its importance; hence, he made a case for more roads to be built in the Island, improvement of markets such as Jankara and provision of other infrastructure. Governor Ambode promised to fulfil this request. In a dialogue manner, he beautifully sought after the views of the audience on the proposed Itoikin road, which will have eight lanes, some of which will be dedicated as railway (line) in the future. He said the state was still waiting for bidders under a public private partnership. He got the consent of the audience to introduce toll gates when this road is built.
Governor Ambode commended one resident, Dr. Pascal, who said he and his club members had been maintaining three roads in Irawo for about four years, spending huge sums of money. Hence, Dr. Pascal asked for government’s assistance for the provision of a grader to complement their effort. The Governor instantly directed the Public Works General Manager to send in equipment to assist this group. A particular CDA member gave a long list of requests covering roads, primary health centers, school and security matters, which Governor Ambode described jocularly as capable of eating up the entire budget of the state for 2017. He, however, promised to look into the list and see what the state could do.
When one group from Ilaje made their own presentation concerning a certain road in their community, Governor Ambode told them that he would wipe off several houses/buildings to fix this road and asked if they were permitting him to go ahead. He went into dialogue with the stakeholders from this area and reached a conclusion that the residents should go back, meet, decide their fate and communicate their decision/conclusion to the government. It was a classical show of the beauty of the concept called town hall meetings. From different corners of Lagos East and Central Senatorial districts came other requests. Governor Ambode answered some and allowed his cabinet members to answer the rest.
Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, a fearless, articulate and bold Police Officer, spoke as he had always done on the menace of bus drivers, who sometimes stone LASTMA and police personnel performing their duties. He blamed some traditional and community leaders, who shield criminals, touts, cultists and area boys from justice and the long arm of the law. This, he said, encourages crime and promotes lawlessness in the society because there are always some influential people protecting the law breakers in the society.
Among the questions and observations that came up were these ones below:
A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Kosofe II, Tunde Buraimoh and Prince Rotimi Agunsoye representing Kosofe Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives hailed the idea behind the meeting, saying that it was important for the government and the governed to meet and decide on issue of governance. According to Prince Rotimi Agunsoye, “Without any equivocation and without mincing words, I say categorically, emphatically and without any fear of correction or contradiction that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is God-sent to Lagos. He’s fantastic and can be described as a noiseless engine. He’s not the type that would spend N1,000 on a project and use N10,000 to publicize it. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do as matter of routine; hence, achievement in governance has become a routine in Lagos. The Governor is not cosmetics; he does not engage in propaganda but yet, every corner, every locality in Lagos, from Oshodi to Alimosho to Epe to Kosofe, Lagos is now a construction site. I say