TheCable

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos state governor, says he never promised to clear the Apapa gridlock within his first 60 days in office.

Sanwo-Olu made the clarification while addressing state house correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday.

During an interactive session with his classmates in May, Sanwo-Olu, who was then governor-elect, had spoken on the gridlock caused by trailers, tankers and heavy-duty trucks in Apapa and its environs.

He had been quoted as saying that it was a campaign issue that he would take seriously.

“The Apapa trailer issue; it’s a campaign issue; it’s very serious; I’m going to take it very seriously. I believe that it is something that we are going to solve in the first 60 days of our government. Whatever is going to be required of us, we will take them out,” he was quoted to have said.

But clarifying his statement, the governor said he spoke of reviewing the gridlock situation within 60 days.

He said although construction of the road has commenced, the full impact of the work cannot be felt just yet.  

“Interestingly, some media houses are actually counting down on me. They said that I mentioned during the campaign train that I was going to clear it in 60 days,” he said.

“I have mentioned it before, what I said was that in 60 days, we would review what was done but that does not take the fact that even if people give you dateline, it’s because they want you to do well and they want you to be able to be accountable for those datelines.

“The real construction of the road has started, but it’s not at the stage in which we can feel the full impact of it.”