Date Published: 05/26/09
FASHOLA’S GOVERNMENT AT TWO; INDEED A RESOUNDING SUCCESS STORY.
BY JOE IGBOKWE
Big fishes cannot be caught in the shallow waters but in the real dept of
the sea or ocean. Gold is hidden thousand of feet away from the surface of
the earth by God. Crude oil is also hidden thousand of feet away from the
surface of the earth. Very successful people who came from poor background
went extra miles to break the vicious cycle of poverty and registered
their names in the meeting of nobles. In a nation of 120 million people I
know that God must have created some one or two million extra ordinary
people, visioners, and consummate leaders who will transform our nation
for the better if we go extra miles to fish them out. Every nation has its
own first eleven or first class leaders and it behoves on every serious
nation to fish them out, and use them for the common good.
This is the reason why Lagosians and other Nigerians will ever remain
grateful to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for insisting that he will not hand over
the keys of Government House Alausa to any other person except Governor
Fashola. This is the reason why the leader of men called Jagaban Borgu
threw his hands, head, legs, energy, time, money into the project to get
Fashola into Government. This is the more reason why Asiwaju fought the
greatest battle of his life with the powers that be then to get his
political son to the seat of power in Alausa. The search for Fashola and
what it took to produce him should be made a case study for post-graduate
students of Humanities and Social Sciences, Political Science in our
various Universities.
Governor Fashola has shown through actions and deeds that it is possible
to bring about serious positive changes in our society if there is
political will, courage and total commitment. Through leadership by
example and gentle disposition, the articulate Governor has proved beyond
reasonable that it is possible to move from the backwaters to the
limelight, if we make the right choices.
Realizing that success is a function of common sense, intelligence and
discipline he simply and carefully deployed a combination of them to raise
the standards in Lagos. Today even when other Nigerians are saying that 10
years of Democracy in Nigeria is another opportunity lost or another hope
betrayed, 25 million Lagosians are beating their chests that Governor
Fashola has set standards of leadership in Nigeria. At a time when it
seems that nothing is going on in other parts of Nigeria, Lagos stands out
as a beacon and paragon of hope for Nigeria’s fragile democracy. At a
time when billions of Naira is being wasted, time and energy being
expended in our so-called rebranding project Governor Fashola and few
others have demonstrated that Nigeria can be re-branded without too much
noise. Rebranding is what you do and not what you say.
In this season of anomie, in this season of economic meltdown, in this
time of crisis, Fashola has proved that things can get better if we want
it to be. In this perilous times God has used Fashola and few of his
colleagues to prove that he has not finished with us as a nation. At a
time when Nigeria’s heroes of democracy are shedding tears and gnashing
their teeth because what they are seeing now is not what they struggled to
achieve in 15 years, Governor Fashola has become the only consolation that
they did not labour in vain.
A great light in this dark and tortuous night of hopelessness and despair
remains Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Governor of Lagos State, who
in two years, has rekindled hopes of not only Lagosians but all Nigerians
on the brighter, rewarding features of democracy in Nigeria. Fashola has
opened the eyes of Nigerians of the age-old dividends of democracy and is
a flicker of hope that democracy is indeed the best form of government all
over the world. Fashola has remained an island of sterling performance in
a democracy that is remarkable for its negative dividends and where
self-celebration and ego massaging have replaced service to the people,
which should be at the root of both governance and democracy.
Apart from changing the physical face of Lagos, Fashola has redefined
governance in such a positive way that he has become a celebrated
reference point in progressive governance. He has built on the great
foundation laid by the proven leader of men and Nigeria’s most adept
logistician, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to change the face of Lagos from
the pith of darkness to a sparkling state of greater opportunities.
Fashola has set benchmarks in governance in a short period of two years
that is too tall for some of the present crop of governors even in eight
years. Apart from the physical transformation that are all too obvious for
all to see, he has consolidated on his successor’s investments on the
little and essential things that matter and make life livable in such a
huge collection basin as Lagos, one of the few mega cities in the world.
Fashola has flung open the gated streets, consolidated the street sweepers
and cleaners his predecessor put in place to ensure that Lagos becomes a
reference point in cleanliness, even with its massive population. He has
taken the BRT Scheme initiated by Tinubu to a greater height where it is
now assuming the face of transportation in Lagos. Fashola is taking the
war against criminals to another height and has successfully secured the
lost night for Lagosians. He had empowered LASTMA to deal better with the
transport challenge in Lagos. He had built on the beautification project
of the Asiwaju to invest Lagos with an expansive green belt that has
become the envy of all other states in Nigeria. Fashola has opened the
blocked drainages and arteries to deal with a perennial flooding challenge
in Lagos and has positively reversed the negative attitude people have
been forced to have of government and the need to contribute to its
success. Lagosians eagerly sign up to pay taxes and even line up to make voluntary contributions to
government policies and programmes.
His massive construction efforts in all parts of Lagos is marched by his
boldness in reclaiming lost territories of the state, long given up to
outlaws, criminals and other social miscreants. Such places like Oshodi,
Obalende, Mile 12, Mile 2, Ketu, etc, the under bridges and other dark
alleys have been successfully secured and returned to the people. He has
set up reformatory institutions to take care of the people thrown out from
these recovered places. He has widened the roads, built modern bus stops,
lightened them and made them safer for Lagosians to use.
Fashola has so revolutionized governance that Nigerians see in him the
face of a future that has been suppressed as perverts overwhelm democracy
these past ten years. He has invested in the mega business of governance
as well as the micro business in such a way that stands him out among the
packs of jokers and mediocre that now parades the corridors of power.
Fashola has refined governance and the art to make it much more productive
and meaningful to the people. All sectors have received the productive
touch of the man now seen as the pointer to the limitless possibilities
that still abound in a badly governed Nigeria. That is why when most of
the pretenders in political offices in Nigeria spend hefty sums of money
buying up spaces and men in the media to sing their praises, Fashola’s
mighty works are speaking so boldly and loudly for him. Fashola has shown
the futility of a concocted success story in governance and is showing
that the best way for one to secure his political future is through working on the primary business
for which one is elected and not one telling his forged story through
expensive media patronage, which has become the craze of failures in
government today. It is a thing of joy that Fashola’s success story is
being rehearsed even by fellow governors whom he had successfully
influenced through his approach to governance. Singly, he has become the
unarguable greatest positive outcome of Nigeria’s tottering democracy
in two years and this is no mean achievement.
But we must understand that without the solid foundation laid by Tinubu,
Fashola’s success story would not have been possible. Tinubu charted the
course of what Fashola is now doing and that is why he is seen as the‘actualizer’. The road map for a new Lagos was carefully drawn and
started by Tinubu and it must be said that Fashola himself remains one of
the products of that lofty dream. That he is succeeding is because he had
a template to work on and a rich harvest of well-honed eggheads and
technocrats to bring the Lagos master plan and Fashola’s great dream to
fruition. In two years, Fashola has shown that not all Nigerians are daft,
corrupt, visionless and blind and this is a very important ingredient that
may instill a life line to a democracy that has practically collapsed
because of the poor quality of the practitioners of the art. We wish
Fashola more ground-breaking achievements in his proven determination to
take Lagos to a brighter, rewarding future.
Joe Igbokwe.
Publicity Secretary
Lagos Action Congress
