Kolade Badmus pays tribute to the Lagos Governor, at age, 57
It is a special day for the governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu. On Saturday, 25 June, the performing governor turned 57. Born 25 June, 1965, Sanwo-Olu earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Surveying from the University of Lagos. He went to earn an MBA and attended top schools around the world including London Business School, Lagos Business School and John F. Kennedy School of Governance, United States.
Governor Sanwo-Olu is also an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) and fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Training and Development (NITAD).
Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was the treasurer at the defunct Lead Merchant Bank from 1994 to 1997 where he moved to the A-list bank, the United Bank for Africa as the head of foreign money market. He then proceeded to First Inland Bank, Plc, now First City Monument Bank as a deputy general manager and divisional head. He was the chairman of Baywatch Group Limited and First Class Group Limited.
He came into the public service as a core professional. Sanwo-olu was Special Adviser on Corporate Matters to then deputy governor of Lagos State, Mr Femi Pedro. He was later appointed the acting Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget until 2007, when he was appointed as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was appointed Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF) in 2007. He served as the Managing Director/CEO of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2016.
The man who brought great transformation to Lagos got into the saddle May 29, 2019. He was not a flight by night technocrat cum politician, Sanwo-Olu had understudied the governance model of Lagos as an illustrious student of Asiwaju Tinubu school progressive politics. So, getting things done was less cumbersome. The builder of modern Lagos, Asiwaju Tinubu has set up a masterplan for development.
Governor Sanwo-Olu came with a winning THEME agenda that focuses on 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.
He has been breaking new frontiers in these thematic areas and also upgrading other critical sectors of lives as a state. Indeed, the Sanwo-Olu administration is governance redefined.
Under his watch, Lagos has improved in all facets and is enjoying a unique brand of progressive development. Men of good conscience are proud of the governor’s dynamic leadership qualities and his ability to sustain the tempo of excellence by making Lagos State the envy of all.
In the area of road construction for instance, he ensured quality roads that will stand the test of time. Sanwo-Olu roads are majorly concrete built that will last for years. In all parts of Lagos State, the impact of the governor is being felt.
In the transport sector, he opened the waterways under the Lagos intermodal transport systems. He acquired additional modern ferries into the fleets of LAGFERRY to make commuting seamless across the mega city.
Lagos launched First and Last Mile buses to address the transport challenges in the hinterlands. Decent and safe transport system is what befits Lagos State. This speaks to the clampdown on the commercial motorcycles popularly called Okadas. Aside from the grave security threats, their operations portend, they have continued to constitute nuisance in the state.
So, as a government with a human face, the ban was not total but only restricted to the urban centres of the state and major roads and highways. In the same vein LAGRIDE, a fleet of over 1000 taxis for Lagos residents. It is all geared towards ensuring a better and safer transportation options for teaming commuting Lagosians.
In the education sector, teachers are getting required attention as well as the students. More schools and modern instructional learning materials have also been provided for schools to improve learning outcomes.
The best of governor Sanwo-Olu came to the fore during the COVID-19 crisis, he provided great leadership when the State became the epicentre of the pandemic.
At the peak of the greatest public health crisis of the century, Sanwo-Olu said: “One of the things that you learn in life is you do not put a crisis to waste, as tough as it is, the crisis could be a time to define yourself. Like you said, we came in at a very difficult time, you can imagine getting sworn in during the rainy season, we came when traffic gridlock was at its highest, it was almost on a daily basis and you had to settle in very quickly and on the bed of that as we were ending that half year in 2019, COVID was announced in China and by January, it became global.
“I would say two things that toughened me was the fact that you cannot fail yourself. A failure to oneself is the biggest disservice you can do to the teaming number of people that believe in you. Those who believe in you are not necessarily about your power or your strength, but the fact that there is something inherent that has been part of your environment that you need to come up and showcase. And so, when COVID happened, I listened and I listened very well. I listened to experts, to science and to what makes a lot of sense and that helped me to be able make quick decisions. Something we have never seen before would demand decisions that are quick and smart so that, even if it was a mistake, you cannot afford not to make a mistake.
“At the peak of it we were dealing with a health issue, an economic issue and a security issue, all three woven up together and one of the early things like I said apart from listening is that you need to flip your listening to communication. You have to bring out the ability to transparently tell people what is going on, that communication helps for people to know that it is bad but it is not all over yet and so that will calm a lot of nerves down. I believe we did and every other thing was just learning from it as we went on. We could say that our strategy worked and we are thankful that people believed in us to have listened to the things we were saying. It is just like a crash programme; get wiser and older almost immediately’.
Let’s jointly wish visionary Sanwo-Olu a happy 57th birthday.
Badmus writes from Lagos
