Funso Doherty: Firm-footed for Future Governance
He may not have won the Lagos State governorship election in 2023, but it hasn’t deterred Funso Doherty, an indigene of the state, from continuing his push for good governance. In a recent encounter with Vanessa Obioha, he shares his thoughts on why responsible leadership should be a top priority for leaders
Standing just shy of six feet, Mr. Funso Doherty’s towering presence can be intimidating. The moment he steps into a room, his height and physique draw immediate attention. His athletic build- one you’d expect from a basketball player or any sportsman- had served other interests outside of basketball. In his younger years, he played cricket and squash, and he used to run quite a lot. To this day, he runs between five and six kilometres, four times a week.
Music was also a pastime. In his secondary school days, he played the guitar in a band. That’s as far as his hobbies and sporting activities go.
However, what many find even more commanding is his unflinching quest for good governance. He may not have won the Lagos governorship election in 2023, but it hasn’t deterred Doherty, a Lagos native, from continuing his push for good governance. He told me on a sunny Tuesday morning at his Surulere home in Lagos, that the way the country is governed has been weighing on his mind a lot lately.
“There is a huge gap between where we are as a nation in terms of development and where we could be, and where we should be given our natural endowment and the things that God has endowed us with as a nation and as a people,” he began. “And that distance that exists between where we are and where we ought to be, clearly, is not because of a lack of resources. It is really about the question of the management of those resources.
“Governance and leadership have actually been our weakest link as a nation, and there’s no sustainable development that will come without addressing the governance and leadership question. With the right governance and leadership, in a span of 20 years, Nigeria could be unrecognisable in terms of progress. So that quest to governance, I think, is something that should be a priority for everybody who is in the public space.”
It is this need for transparency in governance that made him file a lawsuit against the federal government over the awarding of contracts for the Lagos Calabar Coastal Highway. In his suit, Doherty alleged that the Federal Ministry of Works violated the Public Procurement Act 2007 by awarding the first two phases of the highway to HiTech Construction through a single-source procurement process, bypassing the required open competitive bidding.
“That law was not made for the citizens. It was made for the person who is issuing contracts. The public procurement law is meant to guide the activities of the government. If the government flouts it, the government is not going to take the government to court. Somebody has to challenge them, to say: “You did the wrong thing.”
Doherty is careful not to attribute bad governance solely to poor economic policies. For him, it is a range of different things because economic policies are transient. Sometimes they are good; sometimes, they are bad. He cited the recent period that we went through in the management of the economy. What is more critical, in his view, is ensuring that “people who are in government are in government to govern for the benefit of the people, and not in government to control the system and the use of the resources of the system for their own benefit.”
Even though the wheels of democracy may grind slowly, Doherty is optimistic about Nigeria’s future. That confidence stems from the active civic engagement about the country’s leadership, a trait he attributes to social media which has allowed citizens to voice out their concerns about the country’s leadership.
“We’re seeing more of that, and these are the things that would ultimately drive behaviour and move the system in the direction that we want. And you need people working on the inside who also have a similar idea. Those would be what I would call the progressive politicians who need to be making their own inroads in the political space so that it is this interaction between those efforts and the growth of the people on the outside that can come together to ensure that people who end up occupying offices are those that actually are deserving of those offices.
“It’s not something that will happen overnight. So, you know, I ran for the governorship in the last election. You can say that we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted, but we laid the foundation, which we are building on now as we speak. There will be another election, and we will continue the work.”
But does he intend to run for governorship again?
“By the grace of God, I have every intention to run, but man proposes, God disposes. I have no reason to not carry on the work that we started.”
Born on June 16, 1968, Doherty grew up in the Yaba area of Lagos on Wakeman Street (now Borno Way). He gained his primary education at Corona School, Victoria Island, attended Kings College for his secondary school education, and University of Lagos (UNILAG) for his tertiary education where he studied Accounting. He also attended Harvard Business School for an MBA programme.
Doherty’s career began in the Lagos office of Arthur Andersen & Co. (now KPMG) in 1991. He spent three years at the firm, being trained locally and internationally and rising quickly to the position of
Senior. Not wanting to make a career in accounting practice, he left the firm in 1994, after successfully completing the qualifying examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
The politician would go on to work for other companies including Asset & Resource Management Company, Investment Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co., PNC Advisors, the investment management business of the PNC Banking group where he served as a Vice President at its Head Office in Pennsylvania, USA, and upon returning in 2005 to Nigeria, he served as the Pioneer Managing Director/CEO of ARM Pension Managers. He also served as the Managing Director/CEO of PAL Pensions.
He is a charter holder and co-founding Trustee of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society Nigeria and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
In 2022, Doherty announced his plans to contest for the governorship seat in Lagos on the platform of Action Democratic Congress (ADM). However, he lost the 2023 election to the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Last year, he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Given the internal crisis weathering the PDP, Doherty believes that the party can do more to put up a stronger opposition to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“I think we could do better in terms of uniting internally and coming together in a strong way against the incumbent. We can do better but there’s ongoing efforts to improve and move in that direction so that we can be a united force against the opposition.”
He is not blind to the fact the instability rocking the party can be influenced by outside forces. However, he chose to align himself with those working for the unity of the party.
Unlike many politicians who use combative ways to challenge opponents or express their concerns, Doherty chooses the gentlemanly way.
“You know they say that the stealth of a lion should not be confused with cowardice. It’s not necessarily being combative, abusive or garrulous. Actions speak louder than words. What is most important is that people are effective, have conviction and are persistent.”
“While my approach is not built on being disagreeable or insulting, it is very firm. And I’m very clear; I will say things that others will not say but not in a rude way,” he added.
There are many things about Lagos that Doherty believes are underappreciated. One of them is the state’s heritage.
“The history of Lagos Island for example, you will find an incredible proportion of Nigeria’s history that is rooted there; the storey buildings, the heritage sites, etc.”
Another concern of his is that Lagos is capable of far more than we see today.
“Because we compare Lagos to other states, there is a tendency to feel that we are doing well because you have more than these states but in reality, the assessment should be how much have you done with what you have been given,” he queried, arguing that Lagos has always been endowed compared to other states.
“I don’t think people sufficiently understand that the things that we count as Lagos’ successes, while they are good, are actually things that we have been entrusted with, and we could do so much more. We should be asking ourselves what we are doing with it and what we have done with them, not to pat ourselves on the back that we have them.”
The young population, according to Dorhety, is the biggest investment of any society as they will drive prosperity, and failure to do so will make them a hurdle.
“Every society that has become a prosperous society has done so because they were inclusive in the way that they empowered people to become productive.”
To achieve this, he proposed early childhood education, addressing the menace of out-of-school children as well as providing healthcare services.
