WHY MR. PERFORMER, SANWO-OLU WAS RETURNED TO OFFICE FOR SECOND TERM
Prior to his victory as the reelected governor of Lagos State at the March 18 guber polls, there was palpable fear in the air amongst citizens, residents and close political analysts in the state. Reason is not farfetched as it regards to the unexpected outcome of results that rolled in massively paving the way for the Labour Party to clinch the state at February 25th Presidential election. There were worries from all concerned quarters as to the chances of Mr. Governor returning to the Alausa seat of power come May 29, 2023. However, while these apprehension was on, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, the incumbent governor of Lagos State was busy working on strategic areas of caring for the needs of the people. He never bothered himself heavily on the election as all he wants is for the people to judge him by his performances. He continued to delve on developmental activities bothering on empowerment, employment, welfarism, project activation and every other core yearnings of Lagosians. Governor Sanwo-Olu alongside his partner in progress, his amiable deputy Dr. Obafemi Kadiri Hamzat embarked vehemently on the THEMES agenda they swore oaths for while taking over the mantle of leading the state in 2019.
THEMES, the agenda for Greater Lagos, represents the six-pillar development plan of the Sanwo-Olu administration. It stands for Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy; Entertainment and Tourism; and Security and Governance.
The duo of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, working hand in hand touched the nooks and crannies of the state, physically and dexterously working on important areas of development which the people have been clamouring for. They continued to fulfil their promises to Lagosians amidst all odds and challenges confronting their second term ambition. Pronto, the election day arrived and the fate of both Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat were at the mercies of eligible Lagos voters. Little did anyone knows that the people have made up their minds in returning their performing governor back to office for another four years of expected massive development in the state. Voters from Lagos Island where he personally cast his votes, the mainland where his deputy exercised his own civic rights, to all other parts of the state like Ikorodu, Badagry, Epe, Ikeja, Agege, Festac Town, Alimosho, Surulere, Ijora, Ifako Ijaiye etc, people came out enmasse to cast their ballots and give total supports for both the governor and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
As at the moment, it is quite obvious that the re-election of Governor Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Hamzat is a reflection of absolute democratic and total commitment to the political cause of the state and Nigeria as a while considering the fact that Lagos State is a mini country tucked strategically inside Nigeria. The re-election also pointed to the fact that Governor Sanwo-Olu is loved and cherished by the good people of Lagos who not only ensured victory for him but gave him a mammoth vote of over 700,000. The people came out zealously and cast their votes passionately as a means of saying ‘we appreciate you’ to the governor and his entire executive team. Now, this could not have happened if Mr. Governor has been folding his hands aimlessly for the past four years, loathing hopelessly and doing nothing to win the hearts of the people. The governor has been extremely hardworking in all major area of statewide development spanning health, education, agriculture, roads, transportation, water, industry, sports, entertainment and many more.
Breaking some of these strategic areas down, the governor’s performance in the health sector is very commendable. Firstly, the governor is very much aware that without a perfect health, there is nothing anyone could embark on, all human activities would be grounded and all state and national developmental projects would be null and void. This and many more reasons are why Sanwo-Olu embarked on massive development of the health sector by providing every necessary support to boost the sector. In addition to ensuring safe health to the people, Sanwo-Olu worked strategically on the waste disposing aspect of that core sector. Within few weeks of his emergence as the number one citizen of the state, Mr. Governor re-organised the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) and empowered them to do their job and in a jiffy, refuse disappeared from the streets. Also, following in the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s steps, Governor Sanwo-Olu takes the environment as a highly important sector of the state and therefore donated 60 units of 24 cubic meter trucks, 12 loaders and 30 units of 12 cubic meter trucks to further enhance effective and efficient service delivery across the state.
The ebullient and workaholic executive governor of Lagos State is so passionate about education. It is obvious that as a child, the governor must have special soft spot for academic activities and this reflects heavily in his commitment to the improvement of the Lagos State educational sector. His grand performance in that sector points to the fact that he has been awaiting the opportunity of administering the state to actually have the chance of developing the minds of Lagos children and youths for a greater tomorrow. Mr. Sanwo-Olu embarked on serious development school infrastructures, improvement of classrooms, training and retraining of teachers and deployment of modern learning devises in public schools which have culminated in the construction of over 1,000 schools in the state in the last three and half years and aside the free education at the primary and secondary schools in the state, tertiary education attracts the lowest tuition in Lagos state compared to the rest of the country. In addition to all these tremendous achievements Ithe educational sector, the Sanwo-Olu administration has also founded two more universities to expand access and increase specialized expertise. One of the universities is for education; the other is for science and technology. A man who wants the best for the State’s future leaders, Mr. Governor worked assiduously on improving the health needs of the kids. The children’s hospital under construction in Lagos Island, General hospitals under construction or those fully renovated have helped to expand access to healthcare services across the state.He maintained that the THEMES Agenda, which guides the administration’s policy framework, have been pursued diligently in the past three and half years.
In the area of transportation, the Sanwo-Olu administration has continued to improve on what he met on ground. He reorganised LAMATA, LASTMA, LAGFERRY and other agencies within the transport sector for better performance. In addition to these great works, Governor Sanwo-Olu has given many youths a means of survival through the agricultural value chain enterprise activation program he created. He has also not just focused on the youths but also trained more women to become self-reliant and to become employers of labour. More impressively, he has continued to reach out to people through incentives including payment of N40,000 to unemployed youths, grants to business owners and startups and also providing direct gratifications to widows to further eradicate poverty in the state.
In sports, Governor Sanwo-Olu did well by encouraging the youths who are in the field of sports to keep maintaining their status in upgrading the level of sports in the state. The governor has worked massively on improving sports centers, stadia etc all over the state. Hitherto condemned pitches situated in Agege, Lagos Island, Ikorodu, Eti-Osa, Yaba among others have been converted to world class sports arenas for footballers, athletes, boxers, swimmers, gymnasts, high and long jumpers and many others. His great contributions to sports in the state has also reflected in Lagos performing greatly at the National Sports Festival since 2019.
He did not stop at that, he also heavily touched the housing sector as well as the transportation sector of the state.
The Ministry of Works has been positioned to encourage private sector participation. This has changed the history of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation. In almost the last four years, the Sanwo-Olu-led administration has delivered over 3,000 housing units to the stock of available houses in the state for homeowners.
Also in the area of infrastructure, Governor Sanwo-Olu has done a lot of great deeds to ensure Lagos’ economy remains competitive and support the mobilisation of more private sector investment. Some of the projects he carried out are; the Lagos-Ogun boundary roads, Lekki-Oniru Traffic circulation projects, Pen Cinema Flyover and road networks in Somolu, Ikoyi, and Victoria Island. The Lekki-VGC Regional Road and Lekki-Epe-Ibeju road expansion projects are transformational infrastructural projects that will improve the quality of life. Rehabilitation of inner-city roads in 57 local development areas as well as local government areas, and commissioning of BRT lane in Oshodi-Abule Egba among others bear eloquent testimony to Sanwo-Olu’s record of performance.
On security, Governor Sanwo-Olu gives absolute support to all agencies involved in the protection of lives and properties in the state by donating thousands of vehicles, gadgets and helicopters to the Nigeria Police Force under the Lagos State Security Trust Fund to ensure absolute security of both indigenes and non indigenes of the state. He also provided the needed facility support for the NPF and other stakeholder agencies to flush out unscrupulous and criminal elements hiding in several dark spots within the state and it’s environs. Today, many could attest to the fact that Lagos is rated as one of the safest states to live not only in Nigeria, Africa but all over the world. Men of the police force, the vigilante groups, the NSCDC, NDLEA, the state-owned LNSC among other security agencies are well motivated to deliver topnotch security surveillance in Lagos State.
WHAT THE PEOPLE SHOULD EXPECT FROM SANWO-OLU AS HE STEPS INTO HIS SECOND TERM TENURE
For the Igbos, the Yorubas, the Hausas, the Efiks, the Igalas, the Ibiobios and every other tribes and nationalities that works, lives and domiciles in Lagos State, it is safe to say that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has come to unify all and sundry, paving ways for more developmental achievements for all. He has indeed learnt a lot from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the man who laid the foundation for excellence in Lagos state. Continuing into his last year in his first tenure and going into a second term, he will continue to introduce great projects and admirable changes in Lagos thereby making the state worthy of emulation by others. It will amount to a careless move to stop a government that has just begun its developmental journey.
Presently, Mr. Governor is reeling his vote of thanks to Lagosians who all came out to support and vote for him and all members of the Lagos State House of Assembly candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on March 18 while promising to continue delivering the best of democratic governance for them. So, as he steps into yet another four year tenure in office as Lagos State governor alongside his deputy, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu is definitely expected to keep the THEMES agenda rolling.
