Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, also known as GRV, is a Nigerian architect, entrepreneur and politician. He was the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State in the 2023 gubernatorial election He was also the 2019 PDP senatorial candidate for the Lagos West senatorial district election and before that, contested for Ikeja Local government chairman. In this exclusive interview with KENNETH ATHEKAME and BETHEL OLUJOBI, he spoke on his lessons from the past elections, his critique of the present state of Lagos, and his plans for future political engagements. Excerpts:
You contested against Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu during the 2023 election. How would you evaluate his performance in office so far?
For a state housing 10 percent of Nigeria’s population and growing rapidly, we need a government that’s visionary, innovative, and inclusive. I feel that Governor Sanwo-Olu, like most of his predecessors, has maintained a status quo of incremental development, which is very mediocre for this kind of state. Basic amenities like inner roads, healthcare, and education remain inadequate, leaving over 70% of Lagosians in poverty.
Take the rail system as an example, it is not right that it took us 16 years to get 16 kilometers of river at a price that is five times or what most other African states are able to get it for, using outdated carriages. Worse still, transparency and accountability are missing in the governance of Lagos State, despite its high internally generated revenue (IGR). This IGR is not from the money that they get from the ground. It’s not from the air. It’s from human beings, hardworking people that thrive despite all the challenges that they are facing in Lagos.
Projects like overhead bridges, while celebrated, often come at inflated costs, meaning fewer projects for the people. If you look at the override bridges that we clap for, they’re token projects because you will find when the analysis is done that that one bridge that they are giving you, you could have had three four bridges. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as governor of Lagos State, has been a steward for the cabal and the group of people that have captured Lagos State for the last decade. He has not stood for the people of Lagos.
On reforms, the government of Lagos has introduced some reforms including a 25-percent reduction in transport services for public transport systems, flexible work policies for public servants and some others. Do you think these initiatives align with the needs of Lagosians, or are there gaps you feel should be addressed?
There was a time when they reduced the cost of transportation, then they increased it. Now, they’re talking about reducing things. With the current difficulty that Nigerians are facing, especially in Lagos, we need to see this in transportation, for the train, the buses, the water transportation, at least for the young people and for the elderly, so that is a welcome idea. There’s also constant talk about adopting Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), but no real action. I expect that most of the government vehicles should now be run on CNG, right? I mean, that is one of the main things that the president has been talking about, so I imagine that he has a relationship with the CNG, and I’ve seen some talk about converting some of the BRT buses to CNG. So now, if we have buses, public systems that are run by CNG, that means the cost of running a bus will drop significantly. According to claims, one litre of CNG can outperform petrol many times over in efficiency. So why hasn’t this been done? I mean, they’ve been talking about CNG since President Tinubu came into office. You would think that this is one of the lowest-hanging fruits, right? How do you normalise the adoption of a system? Because on paper, CNG makes a lot of sense. I remember there was a time when I would go to purchase a show for 40,000 and I feel like a big man. Now it’s one hundred and something thousand now. So, you cannot run an affordable transportation system on these kinds of metrics.
There is optimism by the sitting government that things will eventually begin to shape for the better. Do you think things could have been done differently?
My problem with “things will be better” is that Nigerians, especially Lagosians, are suffering like never before, while politicians making these policies seem unaffected. How have they cut governance costs? Petrol is expensive, yet politicians move around in multi-car convoys. What message does that send to the people struggling daily? It makes no sense that a crude oil-producing country imports petroleum products. Look at Saudi Arabia and the UAE; they manage oil to benefit their citizens. Nigerians should not be paying global prices for petrol. Subsidy was supposed to boost productivity and lift people out of poverty, but it became a scam enriching the few instead of creating a thriving middle class. Now, subsidy is gone, but we live in a low-trust society. Government says one thing today and another tomorrow. Refineries are reportedly working, yet petrol costs remain high, with only a 10% reduction recently. If refineries are functional, locally produced petrol should not depend on forex. Government must ensure locally produced fuel is affordable, reflecting the current hardship. The subsidy money should be redirected into education, healthcare, SME support, and securing farms to reduce food inflation. The goal must be clear: increase productivity, boost the economy, and ease the people’s suffering.
If you were in power today, what would you have done differently to tackle some of the pressing issues like urban flooding, traffic congestion, and waste management Lagosians consistently experience?
To tackle flooding and waste management, we need a situation where our waste is treated as a resource. Lagos produces vast amounts of waste, and separating it at the source can turn it into a valuable asset. There’s electronic waste, bio-waste, plastic waste, there’s so much, so we must treat it as a resource, recycling and upcycling. And this must be done at the local government level so that the LG directly benefits from it. We live right next to the ports; waste can be one of our biggest exports. For water supply, we need to address waste’s impact on the water system and clear gutters to prevent flooding. There must be strict enforcement of building codes to avoid construction in canals, and our drainage systems need mechanisation. We need to ensure that our building regulations are followed through so you don’t come later and say someone built on the canal when the government is the one that is superintending and supervising and giving them permission to build and plan. Then, you also need a situation where all our waterways are constantly being cleaned. You look at the canal from there to Aja is overgrown with weeds, no. It must be clear water must be flowing and then it must go mechanised. And lastly, we must have a wetland protection policy. Wetland protection is key—wetlands help absorb water, and can be used for things like solar farms or tourism, as seen in the Lekki Conservation Centre.
For traffic congestion, we must reduce cars on the roads by promoting affordable ride-sharing and water transportation. Jetties should be upgraded and made safer, with more waterway options. Public transportation like trains needs serious improvement; it shouldn’t take decades to build essential infrastructure. Think about all the people that cannot afford to move around in an AC car. They’re sharing the cost of petrol now. They’re inhaling all these fumes of traffic. There’s a health cost to that, right? Now, you take that cost and say, I’m going to use this cost to publicise and market and normalise water transportation in Lagos state. People should be able to move around for a quarter of the cost.
We should also encourage working from home to ease congestion and strengthen family bonds, supporting a three-day work week for public servants.
Lagos State has proposed a 2025 budget of 3.4 trillion naira, which is a substantial increase compared to last year in naira terms. In your view, what should Governor Sanwo-Olu prioritise to ensure this budget translates to evidential change?
There needs to be a priority on education, healthcare. Education is not just the idea of primary and secondary students; these are our youth wasting their lives on street corners, addicted to drugs. They must be rehabilitated, they must be given skills to make them productive. You cannot take the engine of your growth and watch them waste their lives, because every four years, you can use them to oppress people during the political season.
They must be given a craft to do. They must be able to produce. We must be able to invest in human capacity development so that Lagos can be a hub of production for several reasons. One, Lagos attracts some of the most intelligent, educated people in Nigeria. It does, because a lot of people that look for opportunity move to Lagos. So, we already have an entrepreneurial spirit here. We have a service culture here. Why does Apple want to make a phone in China? Because the people of China are trained to have the skill sets that very few other countries have. So it is that labor force, that skill set that they have that makes Apple leave America and go to China to do it for a cheaper price. Lagos should think about that because of the size of our population.
We cannot let idle youth, who should be driving development and productivity, be distracted by drugs or harassing workers on the streets. On my way to work, I saw a young man intimidating a Korean businessman simply because he wanted to collect money. That could easily lead to violence, endangering both the businessman and the community. These young people deserve better. They deserve the chance to be skilled and productive, which can only happen if we create a system at the local government level to provide such opportunities. Local governments should offer free meals and practical skills training to help these youth find their place in the workforce.
Looking ahead to 2027, do you believe the Labour Party is positioned to present a stronger challenge in Lagos politics? How do you see your role in shaping that effort especially given the lessons from the 2023 elections?
A lot of people will tell you that I won that election. With all the voter intimidation, with the corruption of the ruling traditional elite, with the violence, with the intimidation, and all of that. So, it’s not about whether we will be a stronger opposition. It’s about the fact that we are going to do the work to materialise what we had in our hands that was taken away from us. That’s what we are focused on.
And you see, the wonderful thing that we have going for us is I’m not a candidate that after the election I went and I kept quiet. It took them all the way to the Supreme Court to fight for our mandate. After that, we have stayed on it.
We are building our networks. We are working on communities. We are looking at mistakes that were made. I’m not perfect. I’m not a perfect candidate, but I’m getting better. Every day I’m getting better. Every day I’m getting stronger. Learning from mistakes that were made. Learning more about legals. Holding the government accountable. Showing the people. These men, these people who used two billion to say they bought five.
The people are going to decide. And another major arm of this work is to ensure that Liberal Party, NNPP, PDP, all of these parties come together to form a strong coalition that is focused on wresting power from the ruling party. That is the major… It’s not just about getting tickets. It’s not just about running for government. There must be united opposition. That’s the only way at this point APC took power from the PDP.
Will you contest for the Lagos governorship seat again in 2023?
By God’s grace, I will.
You talked about a coalition but recently Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for your party in 2023, said that there would be no such thing, is this a disparity in interest?
This is my perception, and I think any right-thinking politician does. It’s not even a subjective thing, add Peter Obi’s votes to Atiku’s votes, and he beats the current president, by over four million. You cannot rig four million votes, where are you going to hide it? That’s a huge number, right? So, it is clear as day.
If I remember, I was talking to the Consular General of one of these Western countries, we’re talking about the elections, and he said, well, yes, we recognise that there was violence, there was exploitation, and there were all of these things, but you must also admit that your position was divided. And he said, add the two numbers, there’s a clear winner, the elite majority. I’m gonna say that; so, what’s the process that you’re making during that conversation? Yes, what are you going to do? Yes, so that’s what, like I said, is the major thing, we’re talking, we’re in talks, we’re in talks, we’re in talks, and we’re sending this message out, so even as we are talking now, I’m having this conversation, and letting the people see the value and importance of everybody coming together, right, to face this, because now there’s a full-scale capture.
Tribalism was a significant issue during your 2023 governorship campaign. Do you foresee it continuing to be a challenge for you and others in similar positions moving forward?
APC’s major strategy in legal states is to divide and rule. So, they do not come out campaigning on their antecedents or what they’ve done in the past. They come out to vilify anybody that’s coming up against them. The person’s–first of all–Yoruba-ness is questioned, and his Yoruba-ness is taken away. I mean, look at what they did to Jimi Agbaje. All over Lagos Island, they make posters, banners, Jimichukwu, governor of Indi-Igbo, Yoruba and contesting Igbo land. This is a blue-blood negotiation. His grandfather was one of the who-is-who in Nigeria, right? So, I’m talking about not just him, I’m talking about his antecedents, his family’s pedigree, and they did that. We had traditional rulers that threatened people that they would join them in that thing. Was Jimi Agbaje not from Lagos? Was he not Yoruba? Could he not speak Yoruba? So, you see that there is a clear strategy. But it really is just a strategy to ensure that the non-indigenous and the Yoruba don’t come together to demand for good governance. And it’s there so that the conversation during an election is never about what are these people doing with all our money? Why is Lagos city in so much debt? Why are the inner roads in such a problem? Why is our public education system so bad that even a household is struggling to send their child to primary school? The conversation is never about issues. It becomes about strife.
I believe there are two things. I believe that Lagos State is home to indigenes of Lagos, whose culture, whose behaviour, and whose outlook on life, not only birthed Nigeria, because Lagos was a crucible in which Nigeria was formed. All the political juggernauts, it was in Lagos state that they cut their teeth.
Nnamdi Azikiwe, Awolowo and the ones that came before him, Herbert Macaulay, all of them, most of them lived in Lagos Island. And those who deserve and have a right to control the affairs of their state.
Nigerians have often elected rulers, not leaders. A ruler lives in luxury while the people suffer, as seen in the French Revolution. A true leader stands with their people, facing the same challenges. A leader as president should have said, because of the financial situation we are in Nigeria, I’m going to use my personal vehicles, the government is not buying cars for me. You know how many billions we have used to buy cars for the state house? What car did they buy that it doesn’t already have? That is a symbolic gesture to say, I am with you.
We need leaders who are willing to lead from the front, showing empathy and a commitment to the people’s welfare.
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