It won’t be an overstatement to affirm that Lagos State is one of the few shining lights in the country’s democratic experience since 1999. The state has been blessed with visionary and astute governors who had piloted its affairs in a laudable fashion. Bola Ahmed Tinubu who became the third elected governor of Lagos State in 1999, no doubt, laid the foundation for a virile Lagos. His administration gave a unique opportunity for young graduates to be employed into the mainstream of the state civil service as about 10,000 of them were integrated into the service between 1999 and 2007.
It was also the Tinubu government that established agencies such as Office of Public Defenders, KAI, LASTMA, LASAA, LAMATA, to mention just a few. The Tinubu administration equally fixed dilapidated public infrastructure at the Lagos Island Business District and many public schools and hospitals in the state as well as Kudirat Abiola Way, Lawanson-Itire road, Ikotun-Ijegun road, Ikotun-Igando road, LASU-Iyana Iba road, among others.
Tinubu also worked hard to improve the economy of the state. Though he inherited an ailing economy from the Marwa administration in 1999, by May 2007 when he was leaving office, his administration had put Lagos State on a sound economic path. Being an astute financial engineer, with a professional background steeped in highly efficient private sector audit, Tinubu left behind an economy that could stand on its own without depending so much on monthly stipends from Abuja.
When Tinubu left office in 2007, he did not only leave Lagos State with a sound and solid economy and viable democratic institutions, he also left behind a worthy successor in Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). Popularly called the ‘Actualiser’, it was Fashola who actually took Lagos State to the next level. From the outset, Fashola set out to do government business in an unusual fashion, completely different from what we were used to. That is why he always affirmed an Albert Einstein maxim that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Hence, Fashola set out to place Lagos among the prime investment hubs, not only in Africa, but in the whole world. His vision was to build a Lagos that is similar to reputable international cities like London, Mumbai, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Delhi, Dubai, Bangkok, Cairo, among others. With the relative success of the State Security Trust Fund in taming crimes in the state, Lagos became the preferred point for investors as the business atmosphere became more predictable and stable. Lagos is safer today by any standard of the world. The Fashola government’s intervention in the work environment in the areas of training, equipment, logistics and motivation and other crime management measures yielded positive results.
The duo of Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola were able to transform Lagos through institution building. Rather than build the machinery of government around themselves, they decided to build enduring government institutions that make governance a collective responsibility. Hence, in Lagos today, we have functioning and well thought-out agencies and bodies such as Lagos State Advertising Agency, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, Lagbus Asset Management, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Agency, among others.
The good thing about these agencies and bodies is that their creation has made governance in the state a well-structured system that functions as a unit. Governance achieves better and faster results when it is anchored on viable and enduring institutions. It is only then that it is able to function as a system in which all the component parts depend on each other for effectiveness. This is where Lagos has got it right in the last 16 years of democratic governance. This is why Lagos has been working.
It is, however, crucial to state that the legacies of Tinubu and Fashola in Lagos State have placed upon the shoulder of the new governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, a huge burden in terms of public expectations. That Lagosians and indeed the rest of the world are likely to benchmark him, in terms of the vision and direction of his administration, with the performance of his illustrious predecessors is only natural. In the last 16 years, people have become used to a safer, cleaner and more investor-friendly Lagos. Now, Ambode’s burden is not only how to sustain this creditable trend but also how to surpass it. This is why some analysts have said they do not, in any way, envy the man Ambode.
It is essential to stress that Ambode has all it takes to consolidate on the impressive achievements of his predecessors and move Lagos to greater heights. If brilliance is the only item that is required for a governor to succeed in office, Ambode has it in no small measure. At 21, he graduated in style in Accounting from the University of Lagos, Akoka. At 24, he had earned a Master’s degree in Accounting and had also become a chartered accountant.
But it is Ambode’s insightful experience in the Lagos State public service that will serve him in good stead with extra mileage as the state governor. Ambode has had a vastly memorable career as a public sector accountant and administrator in Lagos State. He rose to become the auditor general for local governments, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, and accountant general of Lagos State, a position he held till his voluntary resignation from the public service in 2012. Perhaps more importantly, he had been involved at possibly the two most critical periods in the history of the state within the current democratic dispensation. The first was the era of spiteful financial offensive on Lagos, and the other was the period of the dramatic financial reengineering that gave rise to the ambitious accomplishments being witnessed in Lagos today.
Consequently, it would not be out of place to assert that Lagosians have indeed not made a mistake by choosing to put their trust and hope in Ambode in the next four years. With Ambode’s antecedent as a hardworking and visionary public administrator, Lagos is capable of continuing in its well-known tradition of excellence. This was what the people wanted when they gave Ambode their mandate, and this is what the man is preparing to give unto them.
Tayo Ogunbiyi
