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How do you describe Lagos, its development and its present leadership?
Lagos as you know is the most
important state in Nigeria, not just because of its vibrant atmosphere and friendly
ambiance due to its coastal location, Lagos houses close to 25million people; a
cosmopolitan state for that matter. Lagos is beautiful and no state in Nigeria
can be compare to it, not even Abuja with all its political paraphilia. You
see, Lagos is home to two international seaports, Apapa Port and Tin Can Port;
it is home to two Airports, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and the
Lagos Airport. The state hosts the best roads and bridges in Nigeria. The best
infrastructures are found in Lagos. No wonder, while some states in the
federation are just celebrating construction of their first pedestrian bridge,
Lagos has stopped celebrating commissioning of bridges, it is taken for granted
because they are now too many. Let me just stop here. Lagos is full of
architectural masterpieces that is the envy of fellow countries in Sub- Saharan
Africa.
With approximately $30billion GDP
and $2,174 Per Capita, Lagos state is not a small state. Last year December,
the Lagos State House of Assembly passed a total budget of N1.768 trillion for
2023. Last year also Lagos targeted a GDP of over $100 billion in her 30 years
development plan 2022-2052, what are we talking about. A leadership that has
managed this volume of economy deserves everything. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
and Olufemi Hamzat are in action for greater Lagos. I don’t think we have any
need to change a winning team, we don’t want a political neophyte as governor,
we want a team that will sustain what it has started for another four years.
As a forward thinking Governor, Sanwo-Olu and his team also approved
the Lagos State Wealth Fund (LSWF), and Civil Bills, which he said would be
sent to the state house of assembly for passage into law. The LSWF is a signal
of the commencement of the state’s sub-sovereign green bond that will create
sustainable wealth for the government and the residents. According to the
governor, the fund will allow the state to create a wealth reserve that will be
instrumental to delivering infrastructure and preventing Lagos revenue from
external shocks and making the state a technology and investment hub. He added
that LSWF would bring development as it is the first sub-national sovereign
wealth fund in Africa, thereby joining Singapore and Canada which have similar
wealth funds and had gone on to do great things with it.
Lagos is headed by great minds and Sanwo-Olu is no exception, your view
Administratively, the state is
constantly headed by great minds, from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Babatunde
Raji Fashola, Akinwumi Ambode and now Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his team, these people
have held this state together. The state has metamorphosed over time into a
giant status of top economy in the world becoming the sixth largest economy in
Africa due mainly to political, economic, social and administrative sagacity
and ingenuity of the state governors and their deputies, including the present
governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Olufemi Hamzat. In all, these people
built the peace you and I are enjoying in Lagos today, the enduring legacy, the
structures, the infrastructure, the superstructures, all of them are the
manifestations of the visions and missions of these great leaders of this great
city that never sleeps, a 24 hour economy.
It is high time we started
talking about the beauty of this state that accommodates millions of people which
is more than the population of many African countries put together. Indeed
Lagos has a lot of aura surrounding it and this aura include economic
opportunities, security, education, entertainment, receptiveness to the high
and the low in the society.
There is peace everywhere in Lagos, what do you think is the magic?
The state government is not
joking on the issue of security. The state makes sure that the State Police Command
is well equipped with necessary operational logistics, this has helped the
police and other sister security outfits to be effective and efficient in their
various bits. The people can now sleep with their two eyes closed.
With the serenity and tranquility
provided by safe and secured environment, aside the agricultural potentialities
of the state, people from different states of the country come to Lagos with
food produce of various kinds, hence there is available and cheap agricultural
produce in the state, making Lagos one of the cheapest states in Nigeria talking
in terms of food availability, its coastal location is also of great advantage.
Because of security commercial activities thrive in the state.
Do you think continuity in terms of leadership of the state has played
key role in the incremental development of the state?
Lagos has everything that makes a
beautiful city, from the well tarred roads to having some of the longest bridges
in Africa, if not the longest, the Third Mainland Bridge. Are you talking about
the Eko Atlantic City? A mainly commercial and administrative Smart city where
life is on 24/7. Of course as you know, this is the brainchild of Asiwaju
Tinubu and has been sustained by Fashola, Ambode and now Sanwo-Olu. We talk
about the Blue/Red Rail, this is designed to facilitate faster transportation
of goods and persons; are we talking about the Lekki Free Zone? An investment
hub; the Dangote Refinery, the Second Lagos Airport coming soon at Lekki, Fourth
Mainland Bridge has also been awarded. Ikoyi and Victoria Island have remained
the effigy of Lagos State; Ikeja, Amuwo-Odiofin, Ajawo, Festac, beautiful estates
continue to spring up in nooks and crannies of the state making the city an
Eldorado of Africa not just for the residents but to tourists and visitors.
To keep Lagos safe, secure,
developed, respected, there is need for continuity of the leadership of the
state. In every aspect of society engagements or communal association, there is
always the need for continuity, and that is exactly why Lagos has continued to
be making steady progress, following the developmental blueprint spearheaded by
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and implemented religiously and assiduously by his
successors, the Eko Atlantic City project and Pen Cenema Road/Bridge project
are instances of merits of continuity.
The opposition have also said Lagos is not what government say it is,
there is the ugly side
Many say Lagos is a dirty place, they
say that it is one of the most inhabitable and unlivable cities in the world, but
these are all misconceptions, the handiwork of enemies. My findings about Lagos
are shocking, Lagos is a mini Nigeria because of the diversity of the people
living in it, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ibibio, Tiv, name them. You see high-rise
buildings that are comparable to what you have in America, Japan, Dubai, and this
is home to Nollywood. Lagos has built an economy that no other state in Nigeria
can build in the next 100years.
Those that want to oust the
present Governor and his Deputy are on a wild goose chase, they are political
neophytes, and they are the real enemies of the state who run down the state
because they want to occupy political positions.
Many a time people embark on pull
it done exercise by exhuming the wrong side of history, sometime they come out
with statistics and where they get these numbers, I don’t know. Yes because of
the influx of people of varied backgrounds it is obvious that this has brought
about innumerable challenges which like every other dynamic society are being
fixed. So we shouldn’t focus on the problems of Lagos, but rather focus on the
solutions, what it has achieved and what is capable of achieving.
Tell us why Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Hamzat deserve second term
If I tell you what this Governor
has done in a space of three and half years, 32 pages of this your paper will
not contain it. Look at roads. The roads commissioned under this administration
include Aderemi Akeju Street, Okun Street, Femi Kufo Street; Flyover construction
at Ikeja Under Bridge connecting the Agege Motor Road, the Alaba-Sure/Second
Rainbow flyover, the same at Oyinbo, Lagos Ogun Boundary, network of 31 roads
in Ojokoro, Aradagun-Epeme-Iworo-Ajido, and Shomolu road network; they are great
road projects that demand commendations. In all, this administration in 2 years
alone, according to what is public domain has constructed 51 roads and 632
others rehabilitated. The aim is to enhance effective traffic management and
transportation.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu received his
first baptism of fire immediately he took over the mantle of leadership in
Lagos, with the twin problems of Covid-19 and endSARS which nearly crippled
Lagos but you see the governor was equal to the task, he stood gem, and tackled
the challenges with equanimity. A man like that deserves a second term. And you
know, Sanwo-Olu couldn’t have done it alone, his deputy, Olufemi Hamzat is also
a master strategist, so the duo deserve the votes of Lagosians in 2023, they
are tested and trusted to keep the tempo in Lagos, politically, economically,
socially and otherwise.
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