Lagos State Governor Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu on Thursday promised that his administration will build affordable and accessible houses for Lagosians.
The commissioning came less than 24 hours to the first year anniversary of his administration.
Speaking at the official commissioning of two different estates in the Ikate Elegushi and Lekki area of the state, Sanwo-Olu said his government is positioned to bring about even development to every part of the State, with a view to making Lagos achieve the 21st Century economy.
Sanwo-Olu noted that the project is a manifestation of his administration’s much-touted need for public-private partnerships, which he said would be encouraged in all sectors of governance to bring rapid growth and mutual benefits to all parties.
He said: “We need to continue to genuinely think through affordable housing, and that is our commitment for our people because it’s not everybody that will have the ability to pay for housing estates such as this. Therefore, we must give them opportunities for instalment payment, so as to make it affordable and accessible for them.
“I inherited this amongst several other projects and the critical challenge we had to contend with was lack of funds. To surmount this challenge, we had to look towards the private sector and adopted the public-private partnership (PPP) model. It was then that we were able to mobilize the needed funds and put life back to the construction site.
“The Lekki Apartment is thus another manifestation of the possibilities attainable when the public and private sectors come together to pursue a mutually beneficial goal. This cooperation remains a veritable means of meeting the shortfall in the supply of public utilities and social infrastructure”, he stressed.
Urging the new allottees of the estate to put the facilities to proper use and conform to laid down rules for the appreciation of value, Mr Sanwo-Olu congratulated them as he equally commended the Ministry of Housing, Lagos State Development Property Corporation and the private developers in making this a success in one year of his administration.
Earlier in his address, the Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai praised the foresight and confidence of Governor Sanwo-Olu on the success of the project noting that he left no one in doubt of his commitment to providing affordable houses for Lagosians.
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The word ‘affordable’ is just like the word ‘rational’ … its true application is a function of who is making the statement and thier intention.
If we construct houses in Lekki …and we headline our speech as ‘affordable’ housing to lagosians …. it suggests that its a certain less than 2% of lagosians that this form of ‘affordability’ is meant for . Millions more on minimum wage, and those who have to trade and hussle in other to get thier daily bread …still await ‘affordable’ housing. And we all know the groundbreaking cannot be on the island !