• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

The challenge of being Lagos governor in times like these

In good times, a governor of Lagos State exudes confidence and walks with swagger. He has every reason to do so. Lagos is rated the most prosperous state in Nigeria. Whether it was during the administrations of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Babatunde Raji Fashola, or when Akinwunmi Ambode presided over its affairs, or now that Babajide Sanwo-Olu sits at the Oval Office in Alausa as the chief executive officer, Lagos has always been thick.

During electioneering campaign, candidates of political parties possibly only see the green part of the state; most times they do not see the other side that could task their competence.

A reporter documented that “Lagos state output in 2017 was $136billion, according to official estimates, more than a third of Nigeria’s gross domestic product.

“The city is the centre of most of the country’s manufacturing and industrial activities. It is also home to a pan-African banking industry as well as a thriving music, fashion and film scene that reverberates around the continent. More recently, it has become a tech hub to rival Nairobi’s so-called Silicon Savannah or the Silicon Valley in the city of San Francisco, California, in the United States of America.”

Today, the state houses over 20 million people out of the entire Nigeria’s population of 200million. Its internally generated revenue (IGR) is over N32billion a month on the average. It is also said that the gross domestic product of Lagos is more than 50 percent of all the West African states put together.

A report quoted the recently dethroned Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as saying that “in the past 18 years, Lagos has transformed. In terms of roads, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of governance, in terms of a general investment environment, in terms of security, the government has given people a greater opportunity to thrive.”

According to the Wikipedia, the GDP of Lagos State is US$33,679, as of 2010. The Bureau of Statistics said its GDP in 2016 was N21trillion ($145.1billion) and that it was expected to rise to N628trillion ($152.28billion) by 2018.

The state is reputed as Africa’s 7th largest economy and it is about to get bigger with its first oil finds.

The success story of Lagos is driven by vital reforms in state service: taxation, transport services and waste management. It has remained the economic hub of Nigeria years after it was replaced as the country’s official capital.

“The state’s potential to generate revenue has now been boosted even further by confirmation of oil production. Targeted investment is expected to follow the state’s oil production activities and under the terms of Nigeria’s resource control, as an oil-producing state, Lagos will become entitled to a 13percent of revenues generated by Nigeria’s government through its oil and potentially earning millions of dollars,” an analyst said.

In this part of the world, many people who contest for the position of governorship in Nigeria mainly eye the control of the wealth of their individual states. They, most times, do not think about overwhelming challenges that could task their administration or stress them so much.

In 2014, when the Ebola virus made its appearance in Nigeria, the then governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola faced the fire. He was at the forefront of the battle. Although an opposition governor in an opposition state, he worked perfectly well with the Federal Government under the control of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The then minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu provided the needed co-ordination. Lagos under Fashola also provided a lot of infrastructure to battle the scourge.

By the time the dust settled, the governor had written his name in gold.

When Sanwo-olu mounted the saddle, he inherited the Apapa gridlock that had made a nonsense of life and business in the port city. He moved with all the gusto he could muster to confront it. He was also immediately confronted with the problem of potholes all over the state, and he nearly got a bad name for it. He was verbally pummeled by residents, but he was always pleading for understanding, explaining that the financial wherewithal to fix the roads was not at his disposal at that time.

Sanwo-olu also inherited what nearly became an intractable menace- the problem of commercial motorcyclists (Okada) and the three-wheeler operators (Keke). Although the challenge had spanned the administrations of Fashola and Ambode, who also rolled out laws to check the excesses of these operators, the two predecessors of his never enforced the law. Sanwo-olu went ahead to do it. He also contended with a number of pipeline explosions in parts of the state, the worst being the Abule-Ado incident in April that left many residents dead, maimed, homeless and properties devastated. The governor instituted a N2billion Foundation to rehabilitate victims of a blast, the real cause of which has remained a matter of controversy.

And when he was settling down to face the job of real governance, the governor was confronted with what could be regarded as the grandmother of all challenges- the coronavirus pandemic.

Like Fashola in 2014, who mobilised human and material resources to battle the Ebola, which broke out in Lagos through an index case, a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who flew into the City of Excellence on July 20, 2014. He infected many health workers who meant to treat him without knowing how deadly the illness was, Sanwo-olu is also presently at that momentous moment, when his real motive for seeking election as governor of Lagos State- work or wealth; service or self- is being tested. Perhaps, he is being faced with a more serious problem than the Ebola of yesteryear.

Since April, when the index case, an Italian national, broke in Lagos, the governor must have been sleeping with one eye closed every night, as he is always on his feet, with his lieutenants, giving updates on the ravaging virus. He has been on the firing line against a virus that has so far consumed over 132,000 human beings across the globe. As at the time of filing in this report, Lagos had about 235 confirmed cases; 85 had been discharged, while 10 had been declared dead.

 

Lagos has been a focal point as it has continued to receive attention from all over the world. The Federal Government, which is run by the same party as in Lagos, has continued to give its maximum support as was also the case in 2014.

Although the governor is waging a fierce and relentless war against a deadly virus, there are those waiting in the wings to demand blow-by-blow account of the huge financial and material donations that came into the state coffers from private and corporate organisations to assist in the fight. But for Sanwo-olu, being a governor at this time could be tantamount to a “crown of thorns.”