By: Arowolo Solomon Alaba
When he became Lagos State Governor in 1999 after three decades of military dictatorship, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited what amounted to a nearly failed state. Over the course of eight years, his administration promoted a consistent pattern of reforms to promote development, resuscitate the state’s value systems, and restore its image. In 2007 Babatunde Raji Fashola, who was Tinubu’s chief of staff, succeeded him as governor with the same consistent approach.
Today, many Nigerian’s dream is to visit Lagos after which they grow the thought of moving to London. This shows how Lagos have evolved over time, becoming the London of Nigeria.
In the year 1999 when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn in as the executive governor of Lagos state. Though the popular Lagos city was one of the most dirtiest state in Nigeria, no wonder Idris Abdulkareem shot the video of controversial song ” Nigeria jagajaga” in Lagos.
Tinubu changed the narrative of Lagos state, he reformed Lagos state from being a state used as a frontier of backwardness.
He brought up a blueprint which today has transformed Lagos state from not just becoming the most developed in Nigeria but also the fourth richest when compared to other nations in Africa.
The blueprint which has given birth to the implementation of several institutional reforms through the creation of new agencies in the areas of transport, resource mobilisation, urban environmental management, and sewerage and waste management. These agencies include the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Lagos State Water Authority, Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Emergency Medical Services (LASEMS), Lagos State Ambulance Services, and Lagos State Microfinance Institution (LASMI).
After Asiwaju’s two terms in 2003, Lagos state has continued to develop through the patterns of the Blueprint , no wonder he said ” I am a talent hunter. I put talents in office, I help them”. This shows that the beauty of a steady developing state lies within the succession of power.
Compared with other states in the country, Lagos now occupies a special position in terms of quality leadership and development. Outside Lagos, there is hardly anywhere in the country where a semblance of governance is taking place simply because the quality of leadership is very abysmally low; and without effective leadership nothing meaningful can be achieved.
Tinubu provided good leadership by laying out the broad development framework for the state; his immediate successor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and Akinwumi Ambode took it a notch higher by providing practical expression and direction to the plan, while Mr. Babatunde Sanwo-Olu has taken to it an unprecedented level.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a clever political operator with a passion for getting the job done and a knack for picking bright, committed technocrats to do it.
Arowolo Solomon Alaba
Member, Tinubu Support Group
