* Fashola


by Otunba Biodun Ajiboye, FCIA.

 For those who have followed me on facebook, I marvel at your close -marking, some have prompted me to write more about Saraki, while others have chastised me for writing against him, some have even promised to buy me expensive gift for just writing, well, rather than give those expensive gifts to me , find the needy and help them, I will recognise you more for that.

 At the point I wanted to write this, it was a clamour for me to write about Lagos, but it won't be right to write about Lagos when I live in Abuja, so, now for about 10 days I have been with my family, so, I can now access the situation, all the same, I am exercising restraints simply because I belive another route will achieve the same thing.That route is to compliment a great man, who dedicated his life to the service of Lagos, BABATUNDE FASHOLA.

 Wait a minute, before someone tags me a psychophant, my brother, occupied that position of Chief of Staff before Babatunde Fashola, another great mind, Alh. Lai mohammed, so, if I have not praised him to high heavens all these while, it means I select those that are worthy of my praise at a certain point in time.

 Back to Fashola, for those who do not know, Lagos was nothing but a squalor when Tinubu took over from Marwa, it was regarded as the dirtiest city in the world, with heaps of refuse almost everywhere, taking over the high streets, beggars and area boys littered every decent corner of Lagos, no good road existed any where anyone could point to,crime rates were high, armed robbery was the order of the day, the civil service was an extention of Balogun market.

 Bola Tinubu brought some seriousness to Governance in Lagos, his idea of Governance was modern, he practically elevated Lagos to another realm, this he did by rewinding the tape, re - formated the system. Soon as he got elected, he gathered a group of intelligentsia, to draw a road map of development for Lagos, 25 year to 50 year road-map for Lagos.....There is no gain saying, soon after he started, the glory of Lagos took a positive turn, the rest they say is history. ...No one can talk about Lagos state today without the heroic mention of Bola Tinubu. He did the planning, he did the ground work, he had the vision for new Lagos.

 The Chief of Staff was a powerful assistant that made his work flow, easy flow, Lai Mohammed, was his first chief of staff, until we put in for elections against Lawal in kwara, Lai voluntarily resigned, we fought a good fight against the incumbent Lawal and Bukola Saraki, I was a strong part of that effort. The rest again is history.

 Then came as chief of staff, another legal luminary, a meticulous, painstaking, articulate, cerebrally energetic man in his very early forties, Mr. BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA,who took over as chief of staff to Tinubu. ....

 By the time Fashola took over as Governor, the template was clear and he did not only follow the template he embellished it meaningfully, which got the world to applaud Lagos as one of the leading lights in Africa. 

 Tunde Fashola is one Nigerian that should remain a case study to all students of public administration, he is a complete departure from the norm , even global standards, all those who were Governors in his time knew he was better than them absolutely.
He received world accolades for being a super man that transformed Lagos.

 IDENTIFYING THE STREETS
Fashola first and foremost drew an exact map of Lagos, he decided to have a good geographical understanding of Lagos, the geo physics was right...Every street was named and mapped with street names and tagged on street poles.

 This was the basis for crime combat in Lagos, Lagos got a boost even in road development the feeder roads were opened up, to service the major roads, this brought about ease in traffic...All the hideouts of the criminals were fished out, what did we have?Drastic crime reduction.

 Educational development:The upgrade of schools to modern schools through his unification methods and the motivation of teachers made a whole lot of difference to education in Lagos.For the first time public schools were almost at par with the exorbitantly priced Private schools.

 Lagos all of a sudden became crime free, Fashola almost knew on daily basis every individual that entered Lagos, Fashola could almost tell you, where in any part of Lagos crimes were perpetrated at any point in time, this is the magic wand of modern public administration mechanism.

 For the first time in almost 30 years in Lagos Fashola ensured that there were street lights on major roads, National greed or not, a 12 mins journey from Ikoyi to surulere any night was simple with the street well lit.

 The dreaded hideouts criminals used as havens were simultaneously dislodged, including the ever busy ojuelegba, Ijora, oshodi, all cleared and properly lit up...lagos was crime free,we enjoyed good freedom and secured lagos for the first time.

 Fashola induced and motivated the police to be upright and efficient, Lagos was free of crimes, oh sweet lagos.
Traffic in Lagos was horrendously calamitous, Fashola tackled traffic in Lagos, for the first time ever , Lagosians could determine
 where to go and what to do...lagos became traffic free, he established TRAFFIC RADIO, an award winning initiative, Fashola. This initiative alone made Lagos a mega city of global envy, the LASTMA provided the right traffic policing that gave Lagos traffic a serious improvement.Today, the traffic situation had gone back to the pre Fashola era. Sadly though. The current Government had stopped LASTMA  from punishing and arresting offenders, so, go to Lagos now, they just sit around and watch traffic offences go unreprimanded....ooooh. Lagos is reversing.

 Lagos was once refered to as a dirty lagos, infact, the dirtiest city in the world....Fashola came and put a lie to that global assertion....at a point in Lagos, dirt took over main roads, including eko bridge....Fashola empowered LAWMA what do u see at the time of Fashola, a clean Lagos, a Lagos where waste disposal became scientific and income generating, at the same time self financing, oh great Fashola. 

 At some point, 10 years ago, Professor Wole Soyinka refered to some generation as a "wasted generation" He referred to the Generation I belong, not his, because, his Generation fought for the most cherished independence of Nigeria

 If not his generation , it must be ours, so I became bothered, very bothered, soon as Fashola came and he started his magic I knew a man who would put a lie to this sweeping assertion had come, alas, see what professor wole soyinka said about this man called fashola 10 years later "I mentally call him a mechanic, He approaches things in a very clinical mechanised fashion, in other words, he diagnoses the problems and then goes at it like a skilled mechanic, 

 Looking at the pieces.The ones which work, he puts back and those that don't work, he sets out to completely eliminate or transform them, he does it ruthlessly because he is not a politician."

 Babatunde Fashola's Personality
As the Governor of Lagos, send him a text of a bad road, you will see workmen the next day, send him a text of garbage in your area is overflowing disgustingly, you will see lawma, send a text about bad medical service, you will see lagos state medical Director call you personally. That is a Governor who wished to run a proper state.

 His approach to Ebola was globally applauded, The world stood still for Fashola for saving the world from a major Miasma of uncontrollable catastrophe, Ebola killed quite a lot of people around West Africa, if not for a Lagos state government under a smart , ebullient and very mentally alert Leadership like Babatunde Fashola, the story would have been different. Amazingly, America was not even able to combat a one case ebola scenario as Fashola did on Lagos.

 Ministerial Nomination 
I was very sure he would be nominated as a minister and consequently appointed, There is no enviroment you will find a Fashola that he won't be used to the maximum. He is an enigma of incomparable ability. It hasn't come to me by surprise that he is nominated.
A Minister of Works?even FCT. Nigeria will see the emergence of another hero to lead our Generation, whether we like it or not, that is the leader of the yoruba of the future. All hail Babatunde Fashola an ICON OF OUR TIME.