How Sanwo-Olu showed resilience in transforming the Lagos story

By Zion Rufus

In the wake of a global pandemic, geopolitical crisis, global economic meltdown, civil unrest as a result of the EndSars protests, and one of the worst recessions the world has ever recorded, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has shown resilience and successfully positioned Lagos as a world-class destination even as his administration moves to transform Lagos into Africa’s Model Mega City.

Attesting to the resilience shown by the Governor, Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Sam Ngube who spoke at the official unveiling of the re-election Brand Campaign of Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja revealed: “I am excited about the audacity which I have experienced. When we came in, we did not know that COVID was on the horizon. And when we thought it would bring us to our knees, (because the world actually went on its knees in respect of COVID), Lagos rose on the day of battle, led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.”

Continuing he pointed out: “The Governor did not only do it for Lagos, he knew he was carrying the burden of Nigeria; he knew if the frontiers of Lagos was conquered by COVID, then Nigeria would go on its knees. But here we are, excited about the regards that we have gotten from around the world. The interrogation to see ‘how did Lagos do it?’, I’ll say we were only able to do it because we have an exciting, courageous, and audacious commander.”

In May 2019, Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu took over as the 6th democratically elected Governor and 15th Governor of Lagos State.

“The journey of Babajide Sanwoolu’s administration has been a historic journey of triumph of the human spirit over the challenges of life. Just a month after his assumption of office, Lagos State witnessed torrential rainfall,” Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso said in his submission.

“Rain was pounding the city and terrible flooding in every community, and this impacted negatively on the state of our roads, causing traffic snarls. Governor Sanwoolu immediately rallied his team and launched the ‘Fixing Lagos roads’ campaign, an intensive road rehabilitation move aimed at bringing succor to Lagosians.”

Infact, the Governor’s first official assignment was signing an Executive Order on indiscriminate refuse dumping, traffic management, and public works, which was to effectively fix the roads.

“Between October and December 2019, respite came to the good people of Lagos because of the responsive action of the Governor and his team,” the Commissioner continued.

Few months after that, Lagos witnessed an upsurge in crime due to the activities of motorcycle operators. The Sanwoolu administration again rose to the challenge, and restricted the activities of commercial motorcycles and tricycles to a number of roads within the state.

The move was a containment strategy to keep their activities manageable for the already overstretched security agencies.
Following the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in China in January 2020, Lagos recorded its first case of the dreaded virus in February.

The Governor displayed bravery and courage in leadership by again assuming the role of incident commander, he rallied the best brains of Nigeria’s health sector to confront the dangers of the pandemic. In no time, Lagos indeed became a global example for the medical world on how to fight the pandemic.

Buttressing that the activities of the Lagos State Governor constantly reminds us of capabilities of the human spirit to rise and triumph over every adversity Omotoso explained: “Rather than letting these challenges disrupt the excellence of the Mega City of Lagos, we can all see the evidential signs of a city’s rise, with best in-class infrastructure from the ashes of yesterday. Even where dilapidated infrastructures once stood as public schools, or health facilities, we see new ones rise. While financial storms are raging elsewhere, it is sunny in Lagos. We see the finances of Lagos rising to enable the government embark on landmark projects, just like the blue line and red line projects.”

Contained in the THEMES Agenda, the Red and Blue rail lines are two ambitious mass transit projects undertaken by Sanwo-Olu administration in Lagos.

The acronym, T.H.E.M.E.S, represents the six pillars of the State’s strategic development agenda, namely: Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education and Technology, Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism, as well as Security and Governance.

The T.H.E.M.E.S agenda is designed to address the multi-modal transportation system deficit and reduce the city’s dependence on fossil fuels as its primary sources of energy, enabling the development of viable industries and local production.

These and many other landmark achievements have encouraged Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat to flag-off a re-election campaign with the theme “A Greater Lagos is Rising”.