The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as needless and an unnecessary imposition of hardship on Lagosians by the practice of closing vital roads and critical arteries of the state just because a public official is visiting the state.
The party stated this against the traumatic experiences Lagosians experienced on Friday when Vice President Namadi Sambo visited the state for the purpose of delivering a lecture at the Island Club.
In a statement in Lagos, signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, the party advised public officials visiting Lagos for one reason or the other to be mindful of the dynamics of Lagos as the engine room of the Nigerian economy and as such, be mindful of the critical nature of the state before disrupting the normal life of the state.
Maintaining that Lagos is the lifeblood of the Nigerian economy, the party said:
“We note that the penchant to lock down Lagos for a visiting public official has become so obsessive with the Presidency such that Lagosians now dread the visiting of another official of the presidency.”
According to the statement, “It is well known that whenever the president, his Vice, their wives and other carders of Federal Government officials are visiting Lagos even for personal reasons, the state is locked down for hours and hapless citizens are always subjected to tortuous experiences on the roads.
“We wonder how this helps whatever missions these officials come to do in Lagos.
“We want to appeal to all to respect the dynamics of Lagos and the feelings of the people of Lagos who desire very minimal interference in the conduct of their daily businesses. This is the reason the Chief Executive of Lagos, His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) moves round the state often without sirens and other panoply of state power.
“We can imagine the hundreds of billions of Naira Nigerians lost last Friday as they sweated for hours on critical roads on the very Lagos Central Business District just because all roads were closed for close to six hours for the reason that the Vice President was coming to deliver a lecture at a club. Lagos cannot afford such needless interference in their lives as they struggle with the vicissitudes of a floundering economy.
“We appeal to visiting public officials to note that the dynamics of Lagos is the reason why it remains the last hope for a flailing Nigeria where Nigerians have been provided the enabling environment to work and make a living for themselves, their families and their dependants.
“Lagos is a private-sector driven economy and as such we urge all to respect that prerogative and strive to constitute less impediments to the conduct of their activities. “We say enough of these needless obstructions to the lives of Lagosians and we wish that visiting public officers and politicians will see the need for this wish.”
