Fashola, Lagos and detractors

When Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), was first given the mandate of his party in 2007, only few gave him much chance for success. Having invested tremendous time, energy and resources in enhancing development and providing good governance in the state, it was not surprising that he secured a second term in office with an unprecedented high margin of electoral victory. Without a doubt, his eight years of sustainable development in Lagos would continue to serve as compass for aspiring political leaders in the state and, indeed, the country.

Few years ago, Lagos was rated as one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Today, the story is different as the derogatory profile of Lagos as a jungle city has been radically altered. Lagos is now one of the cleanest cities in Nigeria and one of the emerging model mega-cities of the world. Despite BRF’s commendable efforts at transforming Lagos, it is not unexpected to hear a few coming hard on him and his government. This is the beauty of democracy. But, it is important that people do not just criticize for the sake of it. Criticism should be done with the intent of adding value. It should not be done to score cheap political gains. Going back to the unproductive and largely over-flogged campaigns of “belonging to the centre”, over-taxation, elitist government, high-handedness, okada ban, etc is, to say the least, naive. Fortunately, Lagosians are politically sophisticated, enlightened and educated.

It is incontrovertible that, aside from the Federal Government, with a workforce of over 140,000, Lagos State is the highest employer of labour and a facilitator of employment opportunities in the country. It is to the credit of the Fashola’s administration that, unlike most states in the country, Lagos pays staff salaries as at when due while also embarking on audacious development projects across all sectors. Hence, rather than blab over Fashola’s ingenious strategy of shoving up the state’s Internal Generated Revenue (IGR), one expects commendations for him. Already, many states in the country are copying the Lagos model as a template for improved IGR drive.

The most successful democracies in the world rely heavily on taxation to ensure jobs are created. To sustain the process, more taxable people are regularly brought into the tax net. Sadly, in our clime widening of the tax net is being ignorantly mistaken for over-taxation. That this misconception originates from sources that ought to know better makes it more irritating. Playing politics with a progressive issue like taxation is taking things too far. And as the governor once said, “You can play politics in Lagos, but do not play politics with Lagos.” Widening of tax net, to a progressive mind, is an accomplishment and must be seen as such. The fact is, Lagos, the economic hub of the West African sub-region, has continued to attract an inflow of people from across the world in pursuit of varied purposes. It is, therefore, mischievous for anyone to make an unproven allegation that people are leaving Lagos because of taxation.    

Strict adherence to the rule of law is a policy that the Fashola government has fully embraced in the past seven years. Unfortunately, this is one aspect where the BRF administration has not been popular with a few, especially those that are interested in circumventing the law. Of course, one could not forget that the state was riddled with many ailments prior to 1999 as a result of long years of military misrule. So, like Tinubu before him, Fashola always diagnoses an ailment before proffering solution. And there is no doctor that will leave a patient alone because he complains about the bitter taste of a prescribed drug or consents to a patient not completing injection because it is painful. Aside from diagnosing problems ahead of solution, BRF doesn’t formulate a policy without anchoring it on a regulatory or legal framework. This is why Lagos State lawmakers are perhaps the busiest in the country. The Lagos Traffic Law, building control, Public Private Partnership policy, the Lekki-Epe Expressway expansion, microfinance scheme, Bus Rapid Transit Scheme, the greening and beautification project, etc are all backed by varied legal frameworks.

As usual, mischief-makers reduced the Lagos Traffic Law to ban on Okada. But the truth is as a prelude to the introduction of restriction to motorcycles (Okada) operation in some routes, which is just an item under traffic law, government held a stakeholders’ forum for operators of commercial motorcycles and as such the restriction on Okada was not an arbitrary imposition. The impact of this restriction is that motorcycle accidents have dropped from over 600 incidents a month to about 100, deaths from those accidents reduced from 15 a month and violent crime perpetrated through motorcycles reduced by 84.75 percent. Critics have failed to appreciate the benefit but are rather hell-bent on portraying the governor as an autocrat that must be venerated, just to score political contemptible points. What is, however, not in doubt is that a leader needs a tinge of firmness to succeed. Too much of it, like too much of anything, is what is bad.

On the issue of demolition of illegal structures and enforcing law against illegal trading, it is vital to stress that this is an environmental as well as social issue. Environmental in the sense that illegal structures aid flooding, distort physical planning, and in some instances contribute to traffic problems. Logic dictates that you don’t wait for ‘tsunami’ before taking a reactive decision. One project that manifests concrete improvement on the Lagos environment is the greening and beautification of open spaces, decrepit loops, verges and medians across the state. Whereas the governor has won the trust, respect and confidence of enlightened and appreciative citizens for redeeming the promise to bring back as much greenery as possible to Lagos, to the cynics and avowed critics, environmental renewal and beautification shouldn’t be a priority. Unknown to them, the beautification project has generated jobs of diverse ranges. Also, it has improved the aesthetic appeal and recreational value of the environment. Third, the greening project is done to mitigate the effects of global warming through carbon dioxide emission control. Last but not the least, it is done in line with the promise of creating a good and comfortable environment for all inhabitants of Lagos.

On a final note, it is crucial for aspiring political leaders in the country to bring to the table the leadership qualities they possess and how they intend to move the country forward through issues-based discourse and not unnecessary blabbing that smacks of ignorance and immaturity.

Rasak Musbau