Following the looting, arson and wanton destruction that trailed the #EndSARS protests about two weeks ago in Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday, signed an Executive Order for rebuilding of the State.
Sanwo-Olu also set up an 8-member Board for the Lagos State Rebuild Trust Fund Committee (LRTFC) to oversee the recovery process as well as ensure healing of wounds.
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Membership of the Board cuts across the private and public sectors as well as international bodies who have offered to assist in rebuilding the State.
The 8-member board will be chaired by Mr. Yemi Cardoso.
Other members are; Professor Kanyisola Ajayi; Mr. Gbenga Agboola, a member of international donor agency; Mrs. Bola Adesola; Mr. Sam Egube; Engr. Jimi Hotonu and Mr. Abubakar Suleiman.
The governor also set up six other committees including: Business Continuity Committee; Assessment committee; Planning committee; Execution, Measurement and Evaluation committee; Security and enforcement Communication and community engagement committee to ensure quick recovery process.
Sanwo-Olu, at the event to sign the Order, said that in spite of the degree of destruction, the State had decided to look to the future with hope as it works on healing of wounds.
The State, according to him, had in the last few weeks, been inundated with local and global offers of assistance to rebuild the State and recover all that was lost to arson and violence in October.
He disclosed that the state government will, in the next few days, send a bill for the establishment of a Trust Fund to Rebuild Lagos to the State House of Assembly.
“With the deluge of offers of immediate help and assistance received locally and internationally, we can no longer wait until the bill is passed.
“It is expedient that our enumeration, recovery, and rebuilding efforts start as soon as possible,”
“We have decided to put behind us our most recent challenges and face the daunting task of collectively rebuilding our state.
“We will embrace new standards of governance; we will build stronger partnerships, stronger people, stronger institutions, and a stronger state,” he said.
According to him, the Trust Fund Committee will be responsible for getting the detailed cost of restructuring and rebuilding the destroyed properties, the identification of the state’s most critical needs and how they align with the THEMES agenda, how best to improve emergency response services, determination of the areas of critical need to get affected agencies back to work, and the construction of a website to gather ideas from the public on the way forward.
He added that the Trust Fund Committee will also set the pace for the eventual transformation of the state out of the despair and challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic and the destruction of public assets by hoodlums.
“The Committee will have a profound effect on how quickly and efficiently we are able to rebuild our state and restart our socio-economic growth.
“It is the needed crucial intervention at this time if we must make a difference.
“When the Trust Fund Bill is passed by the House of Assembly and becomes law, the Lagos Rebuild Trust Fund Committee will be dissolved, and its functions will be immediately transferred to the newly established Trust Fund.
“I urge you to trust us to continue to represent the collective interests of all Lagosians.
“At the center of this decisive action to rebuild our state is the need to closely work with the people and organisations who call Lagos home,” he said, assuring that the ashes that presently dot the state’s landscape will birth modern and globally acceptable infrastructure.
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