The Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola is different things to different people. Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, sees him as one who diagnoses the problems and goes at it like a skilled professional who wants to know what will work, and what will not work he eliminates. To Jack Warner, the Trinidad and Tobago-born former FIFA vice president, Fashola is an incredible performer. With specific reference to the transformation of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Warner says: “Never in my numerous years of travelling around the world have I witnessed the speed at which Lagos completed the stadium for FIFA assessment.”
Late Justice of the Supreme Court, Kayode Esho while delivering a speech sometimes ago at the presentation of “Compendium of Senior Advocates” in Lagos, advised “the governors of the states in Nigeria to take a pilgrimage to Lagos, instead of parties outside the country and see real developments by a sound SAN, ruling the state. They will appreciate they should spend tax payers money in developments rather than billboards, advertising themselves and campaigning for another election.”
The opposition also has its own perception of the governor. The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Lagos chapter, stated few months ago that “… it is a thing of joy that ever since the advent of Lateef Kayode Jakande action government in Lagos State between 1979 and 1983, we have witnessed in the past three years, quality and serious democratic governance.
“Fashola has rekindled a service-oriented administration to the citizens of the state as evidenced by the sustainable infrastructure development that has singled out Lagos State barometer of developmental index throughout Nigeria in this democratic dispensation.”
Whichever way you choose to place the man Fashola, one thing that is in no doubt is that he is a conscientious planner. As far as he is concerned, nothing happens by chance. To him, the word chance is for those who plan to fail; hence, his only path to success is deliberate planning.
As a man of vision, he has a clear picture of the type of Lagos he wants to bequeath to the coming generation. The late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, in his autobiography, states that he gave himself to studying and researching into how the myriad of challenges confronting the nation could be tackled, while some of his contemporaries were busy drinking and dancing away at night parties.
Like the late sage, Fashola is a passionate reader. The compartment of his car is filled with books on various subjects ranging from governance, public finance, philosophy to social reforms, which he consults regularly for fresh ideas that could help drive the developmental process of the state. Awolowo is a mentor to Fashola. When asked, sometimes ago, about the things that inspire him, Fashola simply made reference to Awo’s books and legacies. Today, there is no doubt that like Awolowo, he has raised the bar of governance in the country.
The story of Lagos in recent years has been that of progressive transformation. Wherever you go in the state, you can see the administration of Fashola at work without seeing his face on billboards. He is quietly charting a new course for the state without making any clatter about it. His work simply speaks for him. There is a general consensus across the land that government is working for the good of the people in Lagos.
Read also: Improving customers’ touch points with technology in Nigerian utilities
However, the task of governing a complex and metropolitan mega city like Lagos is quite challenging. Six years on such a demanding job is enough to take its toll on any hardworking leader. One particular area where the burden of the ‘New Lagos’ project has become visible on the governor is his hair.
Suddenly, his hairs are going grey. Many would argue that there is no scientific connection between challenging tasks and grey hair, but whenever we see young people with grey hair, we often ask them if they have been taking up a lot of challenging stuffs lately.
Though, the relationship between work pressure and grey hair has not been clearly established. Research taken up by Tyler Cymet concluded that those who have over worked for two or three years had their hair turned grey sooner. When a person is faced with tough and demanding assignments, the stress hormones can distort the activity of the melanin and lead to development of grey hair.
David Fisher, a professor of paediatrics at Harvard Medical School, said “it’s the gradual depletion of stem cells or melanocytes that leads to the loss of pigment and that it is not so simple to know if stress and grey hair are closely related.” He said “noting that the process of greying is a multi-variable equation. Stress hormones may impact the survival and/or activity of melanocytes, but no clear link has been found between stress and grey hair.”
It is a common belief that if someone had premature grey hair, then stress and worry could be the reason. And it is weird that it is still not scientifically established. The conclusion could be that this belief is transferred to us through our parents, who probably learned it from our grand-parents. Perhaps, our culture had already established the relationship between stress and grey hair without any scientific validation.
For any progressive and visionary leader, governance is a burden. It is not a tea party. One is talking of great thinkers who spend quality times to chart innovative course that would lead to radical transformation of the lives of their people. Not ‘Owambe’ (partying freaks) leaders who traverse the globe in search contemptible fun at the expense of their hapless subjects. Take a closer look at President Obama and you would see in him ample evidence of the burden of governance.
The dilemma of every genuine reformer, from time immemorial, is always how to carry along the very people whom the reforms are meant for.
Consequently, most leaders prefer to maintain the status quo rather than embark on any reform, irrespective of the long-term benefits of such to the people. They would rather sacrifice such benefits for temporary personal gains. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, said that “excellence does not come by accident; it is achieved by habit and conscious commitment to one’s goals and objectives.” This has, indeed, been the operational philosophy of Fashola ever since he assumed office May 28, 2007.
As he often says, at every given opportunity, ‘there is the need to tackle old challenges with new methods.’ Fashola’s viewpoint has always been that if we continue to use same approach, which has not resulted in any significant positive results, we are bound to get same results. This, of course, is the crux of the matter.
As he clocks the golden age of 50 this week, we wish this delightful son of Lagos many years of accomplished and selfless service to Lagos State and, indeed, the country at large.
Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Lagos
