By Chukwudi Nweje
Assistant Editor
Civil society organizations (CSOs) on Tuesday disagreed on the status of Lagos and how the policies of the government has impacted on residents of the state as the Governor Akinwumi Ambode -led government strives towards actualising the state’s quest for megacity status.
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) and People’s Action for Democracy ((PAD) had scored the Governor Akinwumi Ambode-led Lagos State Government high on infrastructure development projects in it’s first year in office.
CACOK and PAD The CSOs praised the current administration and noted that it had succeeded in putting in place people -friendly projects in the period under review compared to it’s predecessor led by Mr. Babatunde Fashola whose polices seemed to be anti-people.
The CSOs however advised the administration to reverse the ban on commercial motorcycle operations and street trading both of which they noted the government has not provided an alternative to. They also advised the state government to reverse the imposition of taxes on the downtrodden residents of the state if it wants to continue enjoying the goodwill of the people.
They argued that “Lagos is working” and urged the state government “to keep it up.”
However, the Secretary Joint Action Front (JAF), Comrade Abiodun Aremu, argued that Lagos cannot be said to be working. He noted that the policies of the state government is only favourable to the elites in the society while the middle and lower classes are struggling to survive.
The JAF secretary advised the state government to sto focusing on attaining megacity status when the residents are hungry.
These positions we’re taken at the public presentation of a book entitled ‘Lagos Open Parliament 3: The Change We See’. The publication is the third in the series of CACOL/PAD project targeted at monitoring government performance and policies, promoting and accountability and enhancing healthy interface between the civil society and the government in the overall interest of developing Lagos State.