MILESTONE
Six hundred days after Babajide Sanwo-Olu was sworn in as the governor of Lagos State, his audacious THEMES agenda is unravelling and is visible in the revival and ongoing rebuilding of critical social infrastructure and the state economy, writes Lanre Alfred
This week, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu completes 600 days in office, crossing another milestone in his chequered governorship odyssey. Indeed, so much has happened in the last almost two years of his ascension into office, especially regarding the execution of his six pillars of development known as THEMES (Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology).
As the world battled the coronavirus pandemic with the concomitant shutdown of the economy, governance, understandably, slowed to a trot but the governor did not stop working. In celebration of his first anniversary last May, he commissioned some projects virtually, including a concrete jetty with shoreline protection at Ikorodu; rehabilitation, upgrading and construction of road projects at Alagbado, Somolu, Mushin and Badagry among others; over 500 houses and apartments in various parts of the state and construction of classroom blocks in both primary and secondary schools in different local government areas of the state.
Much more has been achieved between then and now in the governor’s race towards making Lagos a 21st Century Economic as espoused in the Project THEMES.
It bears recalling that the cardinal part of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s ‘Greater Lagos’ vision was infrastructural development because according to him,
“If Lagos is to sustain its Centre of Excellence status in the country, vital infrastructures must be carefully built across all sectors. Universally, infrastructure development is critical to achieving human capital development. The economic impact that infrastructure improvement has on nation-building cannot be over-emphasised.”
The governor added that it is because of infrastructure’s crucial role in achieving rapid economic growth that advanced nations of the world commit huge investment to it as their prosperity depends on it.
He said, “From the ancient Roman Empire to the super economic powers of the 21st Century, it has been clearly demonstrated that no nation can accomplish true greatness without evolving pragmatic strategies for long-term infrastructural development.”
Thus, before the first anniversary, the state had raised an N100 billion series III bond under its N500 billion Third Bond Programme to fund infrastructure and capital projects, which Governor Sanwo-Olu declared was the largest bond programme ever embarked on by any Nigerian state.
He believes that the bond would activate more prosperity for Lagos and give its people the hope for a better tomorrow.
“When we came into government, we made a commitment to all Lagosians that we are coming to pursue and implement an agenda that will build our capacity to achieve ‘Greater Lagos’, which we all will be proud of. With this N100 billion bond, we will ensure that all Lagosians feel the direct impact of this intervention in their homes and on the roads.
“We are bringing new infrastructure and repairing the existing ones including bridges and hospitals. We are going to renovate schools and build new ones for our children; slums will be regenerated, and pressing environmental issues will be solved. We are going to make people feel the essence of governance,” he stated.
As part of the state’s infrastructural renewal, the Agege-Pen Cinema Bridge in the boisterous Agege area of Lagos State has nearly been completed. The bridge, which is primed to boost economic activities in Agege and adjoining areas and ease the perennial traffic bottlenecks in the axis, ascends from Oba Ogunji Road and drops at Oke Koto axis of Agege; and opens to the old Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway through Abule-Egba. Many years after the project began, it is about to see the light of day.
“The level of completion of the project is around 90 per cent. All the major brickwork has been done, and we are left with two major deliverables, which include cleaning up the intersection and signalisation. There are four synchronised signalisations we are expecting to have, and each must work together with the other. This is in fulfilment of the promise we made that we will complete all abandoned projects,” the governor said while on an inspection visit in early December 2020.
Similarly, Sanwo-Olu has assured Lagosians that the state government would complete the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, which delay was based on the government’s plan to build a first-class infrastructure that people would be proud of when completed.
There is also the ongoing Victoria Island-Lekki Traffic Circulation Project, which commenced in December 2019, under a Public Infrastructure Improvement Partnership (PIIP) Programme in conjunction with Access Bank. The project involves the dualisation, expansion, construction and rehabilitation of some roads, junction and turning radius including the provision of a new drainage system and re-routing of some roads as one-way and signalisation.
The partnership has birthed a 1.8-kilometre road in the Oniru-Victoria Island axis, which was commissioned last September.
Commuting on the busy Oshodi-Abule-Egba section of the Lagos–Abeokuta expressway especially early in the morning and after office hours was usually a harrowing experience with commuters spending an average of two hours during peak traffic periods – 7 am to 10 am and 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm. That is no longer the case as the governor has erased that untoward narrative.
Last September, the 13.68 kilometre-long BRT corridor was reconstructed and commissioned, and this has consequently reduced commute time on the route by as much as 75 per cent. The governor announced at the commissioning that there already were 550 high and medium capacity buses that would be immediately deployed for public use.
Under ‘Pillar H’ of THEMES, which stands for health and environment, the Sanwo-Olu administration brings about a renaissance in the state’s public health sector. In January 2021, the governor commissioned the 110-bed Maternal and Child Centre (MCC), School of Anaesthesiology in Badagry General Hospital, and 252 units of a two-bedroom housing project in Idale – all in Badagry. He also flagged off the construction of the 5.5 kilometre-long Hospital Road being rehabilitated to create easy access to the Badagry General Hospital and the new housing estate in the town.
The governor said the projects were part of his administration’s efforts to bring development in Badagry at par with other areas of the state. With the completion of the four-floor MCC, which is already being operated, Sanwo-Olu said the state government had expanded healthcare infrastructure and improved access to quality health services in the town.
Months before then, the governor had commissioned the 149-bed Maternal and Childcare Centre, MCC, in Alimosho General Hospital.
The specialist centre, which is equipped with ultra-modern equipment that aids prompt delivery of maternal and child care services, was facilitated through the Senior Special Assistant’s Office on Sustainable Development Goals.
Also, to serve the health needs of residents and increase mothers and babies’ access, especially to quality health services, the governor, in 2019, unveiled a four-floor 110-bed Maternal and Child Centre (MCC) in Eti-Osa LGA.
Specially designed to provide integrated healthcare for mothers and children, the facility has four operational surgical theatres, defibrillators, ventilators, oxygen therapy, and a phototherapy unit. It is the eighth facility, according to the governor, to be completed by the government to offer specialised mother and childcare services.
On the third pillar, ‘E,’ an acronym for education and technology, the governor said that the rehabilitation of public schools has begun with the inauguration of a special committee; and no fewer than 5000 primary school teachers will be trained to complete the three-pronged education strategy of fixing the infrastructure, the curriculum, and the manpower through recruitment, training, and development of teachers.
Undoubtedly, confidence in the public educational system has declined significantly in Lagos and everywhere else across the country for the past few decades. Parents, understandably, prefer to enrol their wards in private schools because even the structures of some public schools are worse than an eyesore. Governor Sanwo-Olu did not think the status quo should remain.
To underscore his commitment to revamping the education sector, the state’s budget 2020 saw education getting a significantly increased capital budgetary allocation of N48 billion, an increase of 60 percent over the 2019 provision of N30 billion. It was a ringing indication that Governor Sanwo-Olu means business.
As part of the sector reforms, the Eko Excel, an acronym for ‘Excellence in Child Education and Learning,’ was launched on January 25, 2020. The launch was preceded by a two-week intensive training of over 4,000 teachers from various schools and education districts across the state who will be the main drivers of the new initiative to reposition service delivery in public primary schools with special focus on learning outcomes for pupils.
Giving credence to its policy to promote a smart city with technology, the Sanwo-Olu administration organised the Art of Technology Lagos where the governor announced N250 million grant for tech start-ups to encourage young people with fantastic ideas. The administration also gave N350 million bailout for personnel cost and increased Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education’s subvention from N200 million to N250 million.
In continuation of skill acquisition as a tool of empowerment, 4, 885 youths graduated from 17 skill acquisition centres located in the five divisions of the state. In line with the national campaign for a return to agriculture, the administration boosted farmers’ fortune through the Agricultural Value Chains Empowerment Programme. Hundreds of farmers were empowered with inputs to kick start or improve their businesses.
The 32 metric tonnes per hour capacity Imota Rice Mill is also one of the many strategies for expanding the revenue accruable to the state and attaining sufficiency in rice production. The rice mill, situated on a landmass of 8.5 hectares of land, will produce 650 bags of 50kg rice per hour and has two lines to produce 16 metric tonnes each. More than 250, 000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created from the mill when completed.
In Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, the administration witnessed a milestone in infrastructural development with the signing of the $629m funding of the Lekki Seaport project. Funded by the China Development Bank, the project will invigorate the Lagos economy and push it up in the world’s index of the largest economies.
When completed, the project will transform the Lekki corridor into a new economic hub and offer a new impetus for socio-economic growth in the state with the signing of the agreements.
Also, given his resolute commitment to a private sector-driven economy, securing the deal reflects the Sanwo-Olu administration’s plan to explore investments and partnerships that would accelerate growth and benefit residents of the state.
Upon completion, the deep seaport would have two container berths of 680-metre long and 16.5-metre water depth. It will also have the capacity to be berthed by fifth-generation container ships, which has 18,000 TEU ships.
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