//-The Midas Touch of Babatunde Raji Fashola-//

In the outside world, names of leaders like Winston Churchill of England, Napoleon Bonaparte of France, Abraham Lincoln of the United States of America, Indira Ghandi of India, Kwame Nkurumah of Ghana and Nelson Mandela of South Africa cannot be forgotten in a jiffy. In the history of Nigeria, people in the vein of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Dr Nnamidi Azikwe, the Owelle of Onitsha are respected all over the country because they were the true founding fathers of modern Nigeria and the positive impacts made in the lives of their people and Nigerians as a whole speak volume. In Lagos State, the era of Alhaji Lateef Jakande has laid a good precedent for other governors to follow. Without mincing words, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Executive Governor of Lagos State has borrowed a leaf from the era of the amiable Governor of the first republic and he is obviously taking the state to the era when nobody was necessarily horse whipped to fall in line, when drainages were open and clean, when canals flowed freely, when water outlets were cleared and maintained virtually every day, when water supply flowed to meet all domestic and industrial needs, when wastes were collected and dumped at designated sites and properly disposed off, to ensure clean environment. The only difference between these people and Governor Fashola of Lagos is that he has been able to carve a niche for himself within two years as Governor of the metropolitan city. He has turned to be a reference point even among other Governors and political parties. Going by the pace he has set and speed at which the Marathon Governor is delivering dividends of democracy to the door steps of Lagosians, it is evident, the people of Lagos State have never had a better chance at self redemption.

To some people, it was a funfair, some saw it as a mesmerization ground, while some set of people actually got opportunity to eat, drink and dance. Obviously the most worried persons among the people at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos were the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the incumbent Governor of the State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN. While, the former was full of happiness and pride having had his dreams fulfilled and promises kept and surely proceeding on his glorious retirement as a Governor, but despite the great confidence he has over the years reposed on his former Chief of Staff whose the mantle of leadership of the state was being given, he was still not very sure of the future, while the later who was aware of the great tasks and challenges ahead relied so much on his competence and of course his fate in God. Though, as a trusted and hard working former executive member of the state who had gotten every fact and figure about the state in his finger tips and someone who has the capacity to deal with complex issues and people at ease, still, it was conspicuously written all over him that, he was worried. The 29th day of May, 2007 when the baton of leadership was handed over to Babatunde Raji Fashola by his immediate predecessor remains a memorable day not because the son of a renowned political analyst was sworn-in as Executive Governor of one of the most populous cities in the world, but it has remained a remarkable day that changed the destiny of the ever dirty, ugly looking and base for all manners of undesirable elements to a more brighter and rewarding state.

His performance within few years as Governor of Lagos State has won accolades from stakeholders from home and abroad, he has also become an exemplary unto other public officers in the country.

At the inception of office, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola made his interest for due process and rule of law known to members of his cabinet and promised to make the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria his guiding principle. While promising to render account of his stewardship to the electorates every hundred days, he was very quick to introduce his ten point agenda to all Lagosians which include road and transportation, power and water supply, environment / physical planning, shelter, health, education, food security, employment, revenue enhancement and security. Just as he was promising to render selfless and unbiased services to the people of Lagos to make his ten point agenda achievable, he also made a projection of Lagos State of his dream. “I want to see a happy and prosperous people; people who feel safer; people who do their duties for their environment; people who can contribute more efficiently and effectively to their places of work, to their places of trade, to their schools and families. Generally, a city that will be a reference point for the home; a city-state that will be a source of true pride to the Blackman”. Apparently, the governor is making good his promises to the electorates as he has always given account of his stewardship every hundred days. This is the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria.

Taking a critical look at Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s ten point agenda, it is very clear that the pace setter has left no stone unturned, within the last two years of his administration, he has made feasible his 10 point agenda to Lagosians. He has also extended a hand of fellowship to his colleagues in the country most of those who are still mapping out strategies to make real, their pledges to the electorates.

While most of the governors in the country have started campaigning for 2011 general elections and wasting resources meant for developmental projects in their various states to seek return tickets, it is a shameful thing to Governor Fashola of Lagos who recently condemned the act as being too embarrassing to the electorates who have given them a four-year mandate each as Governors. In his own case, he said he still has two different budgets to pass and implement before the general elections coming up 2011 and do not have moral and electoral justifications to embark on such venture. Stressing his point, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria made it clear that, seeking re-election has not crossed his mind, and in his words “I am not thinking of any political future, I just want to do that job Lagosians have given me for now…”. This is unequivocally calling his colleagues to order. A visit to some of the states speaks volume of this claim. Even the sound of warning made by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua asking them to desist from their campaigning exercises did not hold water. The culture of Do or Die has been cultivated; it has equally become order of the day mostly among the governors.

The rate at which Governor Fashola is generating revenue in the state is proportionate to the rate at which dividends of democracy are delivered in the state. This, in turn has automatically made him an enviable Governor among others in the country. He has turned to be a teacher of democracy and good governance among his colleagues who care to invite him for lecturing on a compulsory four year course. While Osun State, in the same south western part of the country is planning to generate one billion naira in the year 2010, the Lagos State under the administration of Governor Fashola generated about 67.8billion in the first quarter of 2009.

By his actions, observers are made to know that he truly means to transform Lagos State. Having spent two years in office, and with a wide range of projects taking shape across the state in brilliance colour, his efforts deserve objective assessment in order to enable the public draw proper and, indeed, realistic conclusions about his stewardship.

Professor Tunde Adeniran, in his Public Lecture titled “South West Entry into Nigerian Mainstream Politics, The Journey So Far” admonished other governors in the zone while calling on them to emulate Governor Fashola of Lagos. His statement …“meanwhile, the challenges facing the South-West PDP are being compounded by Governor Babatunde Fashola’s indisputable demonstration of new thinking, new orientation and approach to governance. By putting together a team of technocrats, academics and talented politicians of proven integrity, and focusing on people-oriented policies and priorities, he is destined to succeed. Unlike the apparent addiction to a culture of merry making that is prevalent in most of our states, Lagos state presently challenges us frontally with a positive use of political authority and an ingenious harmonization and utilization of institutional (human and material) resources that are progressively transforming it to a super-state within our zone. Are we learning any lessons?”

The former Ambassador to Germany and current Nigerian’s Ambassador designate to the United States of America further lamented, “The kind of examples that Lagosians would look for in the other South West PDP controlled governments are precisely the same as other Nigerians had found in our old regional government and which, if we could replicate, would encourage others to partner with us politically in the years to come. These examples, if I may repeat once again, should include internal democracy, purposeful governance, creativity and dynamism, respect for the rule of law and the rights of all citizens, transparency and accountability” as practiced in the administration of Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos.

The above statements credited to one of the founding fathers of PDP say it all. It tells what other party members feel about the administration of Governor Fashola of Lagos State. Rendering good governance and delivering dividends of democracy by political office holders does not really depend on political parties. It largely depends on one’s background, principles and philosophy of life. .According to the nineteenth century poet who once prayed fervently “Give us Men,, “Men from every rank, fresh and free and frank; Men of thought and reading, Men of light and leading, Men of loyal breeding, The Nation’s welfare speeding; Men of faith and not of fiction, Men of lofty aim in action; Give us Men – I say again, Give us Men!”. There is no doubt that in Babatunde Raji Fashola; Lagos State has been endowed by God with an exemplary leader whose noble vision and purposeful mission is inspired by a matchless passion for his beloved state. The unassuming leader of men moves about Lagos state quietly without sirens in an amazing demonstration of humility. Yet from one end of Lagos to the other; in diverse sectors including roads, security, health, education, the environment, housing, job creation and poverty alleviation, there is abundant evidence of democracy dividends delivered for the benefit of the people. These are the undeniable sirens proclaiming for all to hear the virtues of a visionary Governor.

Governor Fashola, within the limit of available resources to his administration has striven, with some stubbornness of a clean lawyer, against the grain of politics of wasting tax-payers’ money, in favour of service, prudence and accountability in both fiscal and budgetary matters. For him, every State Executive Council meeting is an occasion to preach against mismanagement and misappropriation of tax-payers’ money by any of the officials of his administration.

At the inception, one of the major problems that confronted the Fashola led administration was security of lives and property. With the wave of armed robbery attacks on the increase, he decided to constitute a security committee that identified proliferation of small arms in the state for the last election as the major cause of the insecurity and set for itself a target to mop up the illegally acquired weapons. His determination to fight crime in the state to a standstill resulted to procurement of communication equipment, motorcycles, vehicles and bulletproof vests for the police. The governor used his good offices to apply to the Inspector General of Police to increase the number of policemen deployed to the Rapid Response Squad from 540 to at least 2000 men. Other measured taken by the governor to improve security in the state include the setting up of a security advisory committee with representative of all arms of the security community and critical stakeholders as members and re- introduction of Joint Military/Police Patrol. The state government had to embrace a strategic partnership with the organized private sector to raise the required funds needed to combat crime in the state. Lagosians now sleep with their two eyes closed because they leave in a state where the government is leaving up to its responsibilities.

A cursory look at the operation of the present administration underscores the change of disposition to public service in the Lagos State Civic Service system. A noticeably hard worker, Governor Fashola has brought new light to the running of Lagos State, initiating, commencing and commissioning projects that Lagosians can see and reliably use to assess not just his performance, but the genuineness of his elevated vision for the state. One of the areas in which the Governor has been able to visibly prove his determination to raise the city’s standards is the Transport Sector, Today, Lagosians now commute in safe and decent coaches, away from the long-existing nuisance order in which hoodlums held sway to them almost on daily basis harassing, beating, robbing in the old and rickety buses.

As a matter of fact, in the area of Road Construction, Governor Fashola has been proactive. There is virtually no where in the state where there is no presence of the state government. Most of the roads that belong to local governments have been taken over by the state government for repairs and reconstruction. At the start of the reconstruction of Ikorodu Road, Lagosians expressed their pains about the attendant vehicular traffic hold-ups that consistently stressed them up to and from their places of work. Presently, the complaints have ceased and interest has shifted to enjoying the ease that has been brought to life on the road. With the completion of the reconstruction work, the launch of the Bus Rapid Transport System along with the restriction of the black & yellow buses to the service section of the road, as originally planned by the engineers that designed it. Sequel to these developments, the main lanes of Ikorodu Road was effectively freed from avoidable traffic hold-ups. Lagosians are witnesses to new roads construction and old roads rehabilitation to their premium benefit.

In the areas of housing and infrastructural development, Governor Fashola has been able to put in place a mortgage scheme arrangement that would enable residents to obtain long-term housing loan. By this action, the number of potential house owners in Lagos has tremendously increased.

Despite his achievements in education through provision of text and note books, renovation of schools and approval of oversea training for teachers, there is absolutely no school in Lagos where the presence of the present government has not been felt from construction of new structures to rehabilitation of old buildings. Students of government schools can now favourably compete with their counterparts in other private schools because teachers are well remunerated and also made to enjoy other benefits due to them appropriately.

To significantly improve the water supply situation in the city of Lagos, the Lagos water Corporation has constructed a 12.5MW independent power plant to effectively drive its supply efficiency. Five micro-water works, including the 4.4 million liter facility have been completed while water – pipeline network expansion has been undertaken in different areas of the state.

To give improvement to the poor electric power supply situation in the state, necessary efforts have been initiated to by-pass the Power Holding Company of Nigeria’s (PHCN) erratic grid. The Fashola administration has opted for the use of solar power and other renewable energy to light-up 10 rural communities; for starters, through the execution of Solar Electrification Scheme, known to be the most ambitious alternative energy initiative in the history of power supply in Nigeria.

As part of efforts to better the lot of young people in the society, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola recently launched the operation of the BRF Scholarship Fund. A long incubated initiative, the Fund is designed to cater for the resource needs of especially talented and less privileged students. Speaking at the launch, Governor Fashola expressed the need for the elders and parents of the society to support the development of its young ones. “In whatever little ways we can, we must help our children dream great dreams. Let them realize that to them belongs the future. They represent our best aspirations…” He said the BRF Fund is an exercise in giving our future an opportunity to compete in a very competitive world.

Health, being one of his 10 point agenda, Fashola notices that the possibility of developing an economy without paying premium attention to the health sector does lie in dreamland. For as long as human capital is fundamental to economic growth, its welfare cannot but be of primary importance in the whole idea of development. This probably informed his vigorous efforts to build the city’s healthcare system to an impressive height. The Fashola led administration has done a lot in reviving the health sector in the state among which is the building, equipping and commissioning of the Bola Tinubu (BT) Pediatric Complex and Bola Tinubu Health and Diagnostic Centre at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja. In Governor Fashola’s speech while commissioning the centre, a variety of facts and factors were given to focus, one of the most interesting of which was the fact that Nigerians travel abroad a lot for medical treatment. There is no gainsaying this. The media is frequently alive with stories of Nigerian leaders heading abroad to Europe and America for healthcare services. In the view of the Governor, such a trend is wasteful. Hard earned money that should be used to build the country’s health system routinely finds its way out to foreign lands because marginal effort is being made to discourage the trend.

The story of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital is one interesting tale that highlights the consciousness of the Lagos State Government of the needs of its citizens. Prior to the coming of the hospital, there was only one Teaching Hospital in the City of Lagos. Today, LASUTH stands-out as a steadily growing public sector facility where people in need of good medical attention visit without fear of mammoth cost. LASUTH is clear evidence of pro-active health-sector-development in Lagos State.

Like LASUTH, many other medical facilities are emerging across the Lagos landscape, driven by a firm determination to avail Lagosians value for their status as citizens and for the various contributions that they make to the progress of the city. A destitute health sector is antithetical to real economic growth. This notion finds truth in the fact that human beings are the most important economic resource of society and that the state of their heath is a critical factor in processes that make for sustainable development. A healthy population is a reliable basis for economic planning and productivity. It is in the basis of this understanding that the administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola finds it very imperative to improve health-sector-transformation exercise in the state.

Without mincing words, the retrogression of Lagos State’s health sector was a function of a myriad of factors. Blatant neglect was not absent among the several detrimental factors that reduced the city’s health sector to one huge joke of contemporary modernity. Indeed, the fallen state of the health of Lagos State before the present dispensation was more than a joke. Out dated equipment; low staff morale and a host of many other negative trends sank the sector to low levels. With the return of democracy, more importantly under the leadership of Fashola, so far, the situation has grown to higher heights. He has taken the bull by the horn. The development in the health sector being witnessed by Lagosians today can favorably compare with those provided in advanced countries. Modern equipments are brought into the systems, old buildings are reconstructed, new structured are built, workers are trained and retrained, drugs and other medications are supplied in large quantities and staff are well paid and most importantly, they work in ideal and conducive environments.

In the area of employment and job creation, the state government has so far created about 156, 779 jobs in the last six months. The Governor whose statement was based on the fact that about 6,114 people made up of health and education workers at the lower levels have been employed into the public service directly while another 52,685 jobs in terms of direct employment of people who are not in the public service, from so many activities ranging from field training, micro credit finance and business support have been created by the state. The Governor added that such people are in turn also employing so many other graduates especially those in the grassroots who have just come out of school and are looking for employment. “In terms of indirect jobs, as at June 2009, we have over 98,000 people working at the various construction sites as sub contractors, employees to people who have taken main contracts from us in building schools, hospitals, roads, drainages, bridges, cleaning up the city and participating in our PSP programmes. So, I think not only on the macro level has the budget done well, it has also done well in the micro level by creating jobs and putting food on people’s tables,” . The magazine confirms that, the exercise of job creation and employment has been ongoing since the beginning of the present administration.

In the areas of Environment and Physical Planning, the administration of Babatunde Raji Fashola was confronted with a lot of problems at the inception, but they are gradually becoming things of the past. The vision of creating a new, modern Lagos State, the symbol of the Lagos mega city project is alive. All over the State today, the aggressive beautification and redevelopment of available open spaces stand out prominently. The reclamation of these open spaces from garbage, illegal structures and miscreants who used them as launch pad to unleash terror on innocent citizens and make the state looked like one big slum with haphazard development has received accolades both at home and abroad. In fact, it has repositioned the state in the comity of Nations such that it is invited to almost all international seminars, workshops and conferences on the environment. Lagos has certainly been transformed to a state that will afford visitors, technocrats, expatriates, ambassadors, retired elders and the young ones the opportunity to experience the beauty of nature, relax under the stars, moon or sun depending on the time of the day, reel in a winning catch, enjoy picnic, learn something new, and discover the hidden beauty of the Lagos Metropolis. Every society, every community, needs public non-commercial open spaces where people could take a stroll, relax or sit and do some reflections and this is what the administration of Fashola is providing state wide.

One of the laudable achievements of Governor Fashola is decongestion of Oshodi which is one of the most populated areas of the state. For many years, the place was a base for all manners of undesirable elements. Robbers and robberies were traced to the area, same for free-for-all public brawls which sometimes featured the use of guns and machetes. In recent times, this erstwhile dark spot and flash point has been wearing a totally different look. Away from chaos and diametric ugliness, Oshodi has begun to look friendly, having been relieved of the menacing burden of illegal structures.

The city of Lagos has changed and Oshodi is both proof and paradox of this change. It is proof of change because the city could never hope to make any claims to sanity as long as thousands of petty traders and bands of hustlers and touts favour the place as a no-man’s-land; yet, it is a paradox because the government could never hope to sanitize it without appearing to be mean and heartless towards a largely vulnerable segment of the community.

Despite Fashola’s insistence that the social and economic benefits of demolishing Oshodi outweigh the cost, there are many who believe that the government was more eager to destroy the market than to mitigate the social cost. To return order and sanity to Oshodi, it was inevitable for radical action to be taken. Meanwhile, the government of Fashola has received commendations from all stake holders both at state and federal government levels for this historical success and achievement of his administration.

Who is Babatunde Raji Fashola?

Governor, Lagos State, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, CIA, Grand Patron, Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners, ANTP, Lagos State Chapter, Member, Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Member, International Bar Association, IBA, Associate, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria CITN, Notary Public of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Recipient of several awards and Certificates of Merit, Legal Practitioner, Administrator, Management Consultant, Team Player and a detribalized Nigerian, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN was born on June 28, 1963 in Lagos. He obtained the First School Leaving Certificate FSLC from the Sunny Fields Primary School, Adelabu, Surulere, after which he proceeded to Birch Freeman High School, Surulere, Lagos and later Igbobi College, Yaba from where he earned the West African School Certificate, WASC. He thereafter went to University of Benin, Benin City and he graduated with a bachelor of Laws, (LL.B) Hons degree in 1987. He was called to the Nigeria Bar in November 1988 after obtaining a Barrister-at law, B.L at the Nigeria Law School, Lagos. For the mandatory National Youth Service Corp, NYSC programme (1988-1989), he was in Benin, in the then Bendel State. His flourishing legal practice, running into nearly fifteen years saw him acquiring appreciable expertise and vast experience in such areas as Litigation, Intellectual Property (registration of trade marks), Commercial Law, Mergers, Acquisitions, Rights of Issues, Ownership of Shares and Equity of Corporations, as well as Land Disputes and Chieftaincy Matters. In the course of his distinguished legal career at Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore; the law firm of K.O. Tinubu & Company as a Managing Partner, Lead Counsel, Babatunde Fashola successfully pleaded many cases at High Courts, various divisions of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and to cap a successful legal career, he was elevated to the class of Nigerian Elite Lawyers in August 2004 when he was conferred with the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, the Nation’s highest legal distinction and honour.

He was appointed Chief of Staff by the erstwhile Governor of Lagos State (Governor Emeritus), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and served from August 16, 2002 to November 6, 2006, during which time he served as Member, State Tenders Board; Member, State Executive Council and Member, State Security Council among several other committees/panels. With the experiences he garnered while serving and coupled with his technocratic background, he resigned voluntarily to contest for the office of Governor of Lagos State under the platform of Action Congress (AC) Party and with his victory at the April 14, 2007 Governorship election, he was sworn in as Governor of Lagos State on May 29, 2007. Since then, he has been able to bring to bear on the governance of Lagos State, all the invaluable experience garnered over the years. Given the spate of achievements recorded so far (May 2007 to 2009) by the Fashola administration, pundits and colleagues alike are wont to describe him as the primus inter pares in Nigeria in the 5th Republic. His impressive scorecard include: the development of the Lekki Free Trade Zone; establishment of the Security Trust Fund, and the safe City Project. Others include the inter-modal Transportation, Environmental Renewal and the Solar-power project amongst a horde of several others.

Mr. Fashola is an ardent sportsman who loves playing and watching football. He also enjoys swing, billiard, snooker, lawn tennis and squash. He belongs to a number of social clubs notably Eko Club, Island Club, Ikoyi Club, Lagos Lawn Tennis Club and Eagle Club, Surulere, while he is Patron, Lagos Island Club; Yoruba Tennis Club and the Lagos Country Club by virtue of his Office as Governor of Lagos State. Peter Ajayi