Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu virtually commissioned 18 projects in commemoration of his first year in office at a ceremony held at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja.

According to the governor, the virtual commissioning is in line with the reality of COVID-19 in which the state remains the epicentre in the country.

The governor who also dedicated his first year in office to frontline workers in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic at another ceremony honoured 10 of their representatives at Lagos House Marina.

At the commissioning of the projects which included a concrete jetty with shoreline protection at Ikorodu, rehabilitation, upgrading and construction of road projects at Somolu, Mushin and Badagry; over 500 houses and apartments in various parts of the state and construction of classroom blocks in both primary and secondary schools in different local government council areas of the state; an elated Sanwo-Olu said even though the last four months had been very challenging in view of the pandemic, the cardinal part of his Greater Lagos vision is infrastructure development.

He said his government had worked assiduously to achieve the numerous of infrastructure commissioned.

“If Lagos is to sustain its Centre of Excellence status in the country, vital infrastructure must be carefully built across all sectors. Universally, infrastructure development is critical to achieving human capital development. The economic impact that infrastructure improvement has on nation building cannot be over-emphasised.

“Considering the statistics that about 85 percent of the people in the world reside in the developing world and transition economies, and with 67 percent of that population below age 35, the need for infrastructure development to support enduring development remains a matter of major concern for all nations of the world.

“Without doubt, the growth of any country’s economy hugely depends on the status of its infrastructure. The dearth of needed infrastructure in a given society places serious limitation on human capital development. It is in view of its crucial role to achieving rapid economic growth that advanced nations of the world commit huge investment to infrastructural development.”

Sanwo-olu added that the prosperity of a nation depends on its infrastructure.

” From the ancient Roman Empire to the super economic powers of the 21st century, it has been clearly demonstrated that no nation can accomplish true greatness without evolving pragmatic strategies for long-term infrastructural development.

“Therefore, the virtual commissioning of some vital projects on the occasion of the 1st year of our administration clearly amplifies our resolve to build first class infrastructure across the State. The projects that are billed for commissioning today cut across various sectors.”