Lagos State has often been described
as lucky by most political analysts in the country.Lagosians are quite luckier
to have an efficient, able and committed Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the
front seat in driving the state towards development and prosperity.
Consistent with its slogan “Centre
of Excellence”, the state has enjoyed excellent leadership over the years. From
the legendary Baba Jakande to the millennial governors, high performance is a
norm, much so that every new administration has been burdened with the need to
fit into the big shoes of their predecessors. Whereas in other states, few
roads, bridges, school and hospital buildings here and there would cut as
exceptional performance. But in Lagos, such is seen as below minimum standard.
Lagos is often focused on quality, continuity and dream-concierge.
This entrenched culture of excellent
performance over the years has built the politics of the state. Beyond
orientating it towards the people, it has deconstructed every aspect of its
make-up into a performance checklist for appraising a leader for future relevance,
starting with a second-term ticket. It goes beyond endearing the people with
laudable projects;performance must align with a perfectly orchestrated
blueprint and masterplan already designed to make Lagos a mega city. There is
also a figurative big picture of Lagos that most Lagosians hold up to sight
whenever it comes to judging a governor’s performance. As it turns out, Lagos
being the most populated cosmopolitan city in Africa is home to the very best
of us – dreamers, hustlers, hard workers, self-achievers, builders, leaders,
travelers and inquirers. Therefore, nothing runs aloof without a prying public
eye and political participation of majority of the people either through the
ballot or through their wallets!
Lagos politics is made up of four
players - The Passive Deciders (business men with deep pocket who are not
active politicians but fund promoters of their interests), The Active Deciders
(career politicians with strong grassroots support), Active Promoters
(card-carrying members who do the political legwork) and the Passive Promoters
(non-partisan citizens who horn support for their candidates within their
circles of influence). There is practically no silent inactive resident in Lagos;
everyone is involved one way or the other.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu is past the
half-mark with 2023 just around the corner and with his recent winning of the
APC flagbearer for second term, we take a look at his administration’s efforts
at realizing his dream for a Greater Lagos .
A.
Empathy, Communications
and Association with the people
Until he became governor and the
people got the chance of experiencing the person of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, he was
only defined by the words of the political class, mostly his party chieftains.
And that reputation was purely ambiguous. A set extolled his virtues and
capabilities, but the other painted the picture of a junky, gutless errand boy
that the cabal wanted to force on the people. Many Lagosians were apprehensive
of him and what would become the experience of Lagos for the next four years.
If there is any litmus test Sanwo-Olu has passed, it is the sanity check! In
fact, the governor, through his frequent association with the masses, has
demonstrated high level emotional intelligence, power of articulation and depth
of understanding. Give it to Sanwo-Olu, he has never struck as clueless or
classless. Even though he has exposed himself to a lot of public inquisitions,
Sanwo-Olu always provided robust responses, demonstrating a deep understanding
of the economy, governance, the people’s expectations and desires.This is
something Lagosians would want to continue to enjoy in 2023.
The public has come to relate with a
man they fondly call MrGovernor, as
a listening leader. His quarterly briefings, active use of the social media for
feedbacks and orientation, the several town halls and live-streamed Lagos
events, prompt responses to concerns and requests of random citizens have taken
away the elitist image the people have of the office of the governor of Lagos
state.The EndSARS protest was a litmus test of the stuff Sanwo-Olu is made of.
Despite the political backlash, he
went all out to associate with the youth, managed the fallouts and followed
through with his promise to offer his shoulders, through prompt visits to
victims on their hospital beds, settling bills, constituting the first and
perhaps the only genuine panel of inquiry, etc.It was a tough call for those
who understand the inner workings of federal and state politics, but the
conscientious MrGovernor never faltered nor failed.
Planning and Strategy
When Sanwo-Olu filtered into the
polity in the build up to the Lagos Gubernatorial Election of 2019, someparty stalwarts spoke about him,
emphasized his excellent planning and strategic thinking abilities. He was
accredited for a lot of excellent policies that boosted the state’s IGR and the
brilliant Lagos Security Trust Fund that solved the funding problem and
elevated the security operations and apparatus of the state. It was also noted
that he led the publication of the Lagos State Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy (LASEEDS). Well, over two years down the line, he has
proven his prowess.
Take for instance, the Lagos State
Employment Trust Fund. Within the last three years of this administration, this
organization had greatly impacted the economy and social security of the state.
It is a strategic way of addressing unemployment, women and youth empowerment
and insecurity. Over 14,000 businesses have been funded to the tune of
9billion, over 6,500 have been trained and placed in jobs, workspaces insured
for startup businesses in tech, created 197,000 jobs and added 57,000 new tax
payers.
Administration and Continuity
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has no
doubt fulfilled one of his campaign promises by fully filling his cabinet and
setting up the structure to immediately run this progress agenda within the
first few weeks in office. He quickly restored the Lagos waste management system
and the mounting trash vanished across the state. He resuscitated the Lagos
State Public Works Corporation, invested heavily in equipment and allocated required
funding. Within the last three years, most of Lagos roads have been repaired,
upgraded and some still under construction by the Corporation.
Governor OlusholaSanwo-Olu spent the
first two years of his first term completing numerous projects of his
predecessor, according him full credit and not minding the public backslash
that would follow. To him, every good Lagos dream deserves to be realized
regardless of the name tag on it. That is the character of the man Lagosians
would want to keep come 2023.
COVID-19 Pandemic
One of the biggest problem any
government around the world has faced in the last 100 years is the COVID-19
pandemic. How it was handled has caused several world leaders their position from
presidents to governors, to even city mayors, COVID-19 pandemic management was
all the people needed to judge them. If that is what the administration of Governor
Babajide Sanwo-Olu would be evaluated by, he will eternally remain relevant in
the Nigerian political sphere; he did excellently well!
Recently, the World Health
Organization rated Nigeria 4th in the world in handling of the pandemic.
Without equivocation, that credit almost completely goes to Governor Babajide
Sanwo-Olu . We all know Lagos is the heart of the nation as over 12% of the nation
resides in Lagos State. More so, it is Nigeria’s number one gateway to the
world and its inhabitants are the most traveled and tightly settled. If Lagos
had gotten it wrong, the entire country would have been in a total mess.
The initial projection for Lagos by
world health authorities was several millions of infections and hundreds of
thousands of deaths. But it came at a wrong time, when an astute strategic
planner and thinker who understands crisis management is at the helms of
affairs.
First, Governor Sanwo-Olu was the
Incident Commander who put himself at the frontline of the the fight against
the pandemic. He also practically commanded the implementation of a
well-articulated stemming plan. His government was the first to swing into
action and locked down the state. He activated all the state apparatus – media,
security, public health, emergency management, etc. He worked with the private
sector to pull together resources and encourage the acceptance of the lockdown
protocol. His years of experience in the private sector came handy and he
quickly worked with major players to set up isolation centres. The government
within few weeks upgraded facilities to create Infectious Disease Centres,
helped with logistical problems of health workers and enforced movement
restrictions across the state. He quickly mobilized the equipping of all government
buildings, including thousands of Lagos schools with prevention and testing
facilities.
The education ministry partnered
state media companies to air educational materials, to make up for educational
losses caused by the lockdown and all primary and secondary students benefited.
Most importantly, his perspicacity
in the formation of his cabinet came to positive light in the face of the
pandemic, when his choice of the commissioner for health became pivotal to the
fight; a professor who intelligently and actively managed the pandemic and turned down the hand of the curve. Prof. Akin Abayomi, who recently got
an award as the most responsive COVID-19 State Government of the Year at the
Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award 2021, was just a timely round peg in round
hole. The perfection of this administration at this time saved thousands of
lives and possible economic collapse that shocked even the developed nations of
the world and global public health experts.
Conclusion
Governor Sanwo-Olu has impacted all
major areas of development that will be too numerous to list – built and
upgraded over 1,071 schools, launched the Lagos Health Insurance Scheme (costs
only N40,000 a year for a family to get from primary to tertiary health care),
completed several housing projects, fixed traffic bottlenecks, added hundreds
of public buses, etc. How Governor Sanwo-Olu raised the finances for the Lagos
Blueline Rail project in the midst of a pandemic and economic slowdown has been
a wonder to the book makers and economists. Again, he is forging ahead with
gusto to commence work on the 4th Mainland Bridge. These are some of the
projects Governor Sanwo-Olu fittingly described in his State of the State
Address titled, "Glimpse of a Greater Lagos".
At the last SUN Newspaper Awards of
Excellence, GovernorSanwo-Olu was unanimously announced as the Best Governor of
the Year, to add to the list of manyhonourary and meritorious awards he has
received since he became governor well over three years ago.
The wise, they say, count the cost
before building. For 2023 elections in Lagos State, the wisdom remains energy
conserved in-house to support an efficient servant leader for continuity and
greater progress.
