The Lagos State Government has said the current administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will complete all projects it has embarked upon before the expiration of its term in 2027.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, who said this during an interactive session with journalists on Friday, listed some of the landmark projects of the administration as the 150-bed Massey Street Children’s Hospital; the Green Rail Line; and Ojo General Hospital; and the “largest food hub in sub-Saharan Africa, that can feed like five million people for at least three months if there is famine.”
Omotoso stressed that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, remain committed to ensuring that no project is abandoned.
He said, “All of the beautiful projects that you see that we have started, we are going to complete them. The new Massey Hospital is almost completed. The Opebi-Mende Link Bridge will be commissioned before the end of the year.”
Sanwo-Olu performed the groundbreaking for the seven-storey hospital in April 2021, while full-scale construction began in 2022.
The new 150-bed children’s hospital, when completed, will replace the current century-old Massey Hospital, which was established in 1914 by the colonial administration.
“What is left is what I can call finishing touches. And you know, it’s not just the building that makes a hospital. You must equip it. That is where I feel that we really have a lot of work to do. But all I know is that the hospital will be unveiled by next year. And it’s not just the new Massey Hospital. The General Hospital in Ojo, that one too is going to be completed,” Omotoso said.
He also noted that a food hub, which has already been completed, would be unveiled “early next year, if not later this year,” describing it as the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
“And to tell you the kind of excitement that we have over it, it is the kind of hub that can store food. Go for a visit, if there is a famine in the land, it can feed like five million people for at least, three months. And if there is so much food inflation, and prices are going up, if you release some of the items that you have in the logistics, it can reduce prices. So, it’s a kind of facility that should excite all of us.”
Omotoso further spoke about other projects that would be completed before the end of Sanwo-Olu’s administration in 2027.
“So, I am talking about some other projects, like roads that we have started. All of them are going to be completed. I do not see any project that may be so big that we won’t be able to complete.’’
The commissioner added that construction is ongoing on the second phase of both the Blue Line and Red Line Rail projects, expressing confidence that both would be completed before the governor leaves office.
He added, ‘’And of course, the Green Rail Line, as I speak with you now, the meeting is going on. On that, it will also be started and then everybody will see appreciable progress, if not a completion, before we leave office. So there is nothing that we are doing now that we are not going to complete.”
