Ngozi Nwosu recovering nicely!

Last month, ailing actress Ngozi Nwosu of Fuji House of Commotion fame flew to the United Kingdom to have a much needed heart and kidney transplant.

With great relief I can tell you the operation was successful and Ngozi is now out of hospital.I cannot tell how long she'll be in the UK before returning home, however pictures she sent show how dramatically she's transformed from the weak, emaciated Ngozi that left the Muritala Mohammed International airport, Lagos, last month.

Since early last year, the Fuji house of commotion troublesome wife and talented actress who played Peaceful Peace has been a shadow of her old self as she continued to emaciate following her body's on-going battle against undisclosed heart and kidney related ailments. Her friends in the industry panicked and raced the earth to raise money for her treatments but even their efforts were not enough until Governor Fashola stepped in.

The governor donated 4.5 million naira after reportedly reading of her ailment in a publication. Another 2 million was raised by her friends and corporate organisations who donated their widows mite to the distress call.Ngozi had been temporarily delayed as her doctors in Nigeria prepared her referrals to the hospital in UK that would be handling her case forthwith. As soon as it was ready, Ngozi took the next available flight out of the country.Since the story of her medical condition broke, her fans have continued to pour out their hearts to her in prayers and in kind words and with unshaken hope that she will come back to them again ... alive and well!

Thank God we did not lose another star.

Fashola Re-Opens Ladipo Market

The Lagos State Government on Monday re-opened the Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market in Mushin area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria after two weeks of closure.
The market was shut by the government on 25 February as a result of filth at the market and environmental degradation.Officials of the Lagos State Government and leadership of the market met on Monday and signed an agreement that the market must be kept clean always and that no street trading would be allowed on the streets.
The Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello had said that some of the conditions that might warrant re-opening of the market include: complete removal of all illegal structures and attached structures built along canal paths and that traders must be confined to the main markets.“Under no condition must they trade or solicit for customers on the main road, they must remove all shop attachments built round the market/canals, remove all derelict and abandoned vehicles parked within the market as far as the expressway, remediate all forms of degradation on the roads and market area, sort out waste management issues with LAWMA as they cannot continue to dump into the canals, ensure total cleaning of the entire market and adjoining streets which they have degraded, among others,” he said.
Mr Bello had lamented the poor state of the market, saying that “ the environment is seriously polluted and degraded with oil; full and half engines spare parts and human waste are dumped into canals, while illegal structures were built along drainage paths and all the canal setbacks have been turned to shops and trading points.“A visit to the place also shows that street traders have taken over the entire major inlets and outlets at the market, while residents have severally petitioned the Ministry of the environment about lack of access to their homes and property. These traders have degraded all the major access roads to the market which need remediation rehabilitation.”Before the re-opening of the market, intensive sanitation had been done by the marketers, while shanties built on drainage channels were demolished.
Last week, Governor Babatunde Fashola visited the market with his counterpart from Imo State, Rochas Okorocha and decried the horrible environmental state of the market and gave conditions for its re-opening.He described the state of the market and its environs as “massive degradation of a section of Lagos,” saying that the good thing in the visit was that the traders had seen the lack of caution in their deed and were ready to make amends.“It is a massive degradation of a section of Lagos and this is not acceptable.
People should not carry on like this. But what is, perhaps, worthy of note is that those who are involved have seen the error of what they have done here and are ready to work with us to clean-up and I have said here that they must take the lead.“The canal there poses a lot of danger and we are expecting heavy rains. I don’t want to come back here to pick any dead body. We built the canal and we must make it work by not trading on it and not dumping refuse in it.“People told me that they picked engine parts, spare parts and other things from the canal. It must stop,” the Governor said, adding that there is now an agreement between the traders and the Government to work together to clean up the place and continue with the business there,” he said.According to Governor Fashola, “if you must trade here, you must stay behind the property line. You can see the damage you have caused to the road. We have to come back to re-do the road. Now this will be done with taxpayers’ money. It is fine that you want to do business but those who pay the money used to construct the road must also be able to use it and how do they do that if you take over the road?"

Ladipo market remains closed

Governor Fashola in his usual no- nonsense stance has insisted that Ladipo market would remain closed except the traders yield to his demands.
First, the market must be thoroughly sanitised and secondly, an undertaking would be written - in there, no form of trading on the pavements and roadsides. I bet the traders would act fast.
Kudos to Fashola ojare.

Jonathan, Clinton, Fashola launch Eko Atlantic city site

Jonathan at the launch

IN furtherance of land reclamation exercise and quest to successfully construct Eko Atlantic City, President Goodluck Jonathan and former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, have thrown their weight behind efforts by  the Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to make Lagos State a tourist destination.

The Eko Atlantic City is about reclamation of land hitherto lost to the Atlantic Ocean in the last 100 years.

The leaders, who spoke at the event one after the other, noted that the city, when completed, would be a cynosure of all eyes and would bring people all over the world to study its technology.

The 5,000,000 square metres of land reclaimed from the Bar Beach was commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday Speaking at the event, President Jonathan described the feat as a landmark, adding that “the project was one of the good news that we will continue to tell in the country.

“When completed, the Atlantic City will promote tourism, as it will give birth to new cities and new cities will help in no small measure in the revenue generation of the country.

“It will help in urban renewal and in the construction of new cities to complement the old ones. The Federal Government is, therefore, giving its full support once again to the project.”

Clinton, speaking at the event, said the project, when completed, would bring enormous opportunities, adding that “I am convinced that within five years, people will be coming all over the world to see this wall. In the last nine years, I have been asked to work in the aftermath of natural disasters all over the world.

“I want to thank the government and the developer for building this city. They have reclaimed five million square metres of the land initially lost to the sea. That marks the beginning of this amazing wall, they have kept their commitment and it will work to improve the economy of Nigeria,” he concluded.

Also speaking, at the event, Governor Fashola said that the project would be strengthened by the “Great Wall,” which would help in the fight against coastal erosion and in reclaiming land that had been lost to the ocean.

“The project has the prospect of generating employment in the future, as properties will spring up, which will be protected by the Great Wall of Lagos. It shows the resolve and will of man in the fight against nature. Nature again has, once again, been defeated,” he said.

He admitted that the project had faced many challenges, adding that the strong will of the people had kept it going since its conception in 2009.

The Executive Chairman of Eko Atlantic, Mr Ronald Chagoury, said the project was necessary because land had been lost to the sea for 100 years of coastal erosion.

“This land is protected by walls that can withstand the worst storms and condition not seen in the past 100 years. It will protect both the Eko Atlantic City and Victoria Island,” he remarked.