To drive development into the rural areas of Lagos, the state government says it needs about N262 billion. This will enable it provide access roads and potable water in the rural communities most of which currently lack these essential amenities.
Cornelius Ojelabi, the state commissioner for rural development, said of this total figure, road infrastructure would consume N256 billion while the provision of potable water for rural dwellers would gulp about N6 billion.
According to him, the desire of the state government is to ensure even development in rural areas of the state, in order to check rural-urban drift, just as he pointed out that the demand for social amenities and basic infrastructure have continued to increase by the day due to the influx of thousands of people to Lagos daily.
“The challenges we face in our effort at transforming our rural areas are enormous while resources at our disposal are limited. The estimate we have for provision of bridges, rural roads, jetties and drains alone for this year is more than the budget of the whole state”.
The commissioner appealed to corporate bodies, donor agencies and philanthropists to assist government in providing amenities in the rural areas.
“Organisations, companies and philanthropists could adopt projects in rural communities as part of their corporate social responsibility and brand them in their names on completion. With this we can together take Lagos to the next level and make it a model mega city.
“We need the public to come and will aid us to provide culverts, mini bridges, and quality roads that will enhance a better living condition for rural people and open up rural areas and we need nothing less than N256 billon”.
“To also be sure that majority of rural dwellers have a good source of water supply, with the number of requests we have received so far to provide water amounts to about N6 billion,” he said.
