THEMES Agenda – Has Governor Sanwo-Olu Achieved Anything In One Year?

It’s already a year after residents of Lagos took to their different polling units to elect their preferred representative to govern the affairs of the state for the four years.

Emerging as the winner of the keenly contested election, Babajide Sanwo-Olu who stood as the flag bearer of the All progressive congress at the 2019 Governorship election in Lagos state has been the one at the helm of affairs in the state.

The Governor who in 2019 celebrated 100 days in office will today be celebrating a year as the Lagos state Governor. The main question on everybody’s lips is if his level of performance has been up to par.

It is important to note that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at his assumption of office as a Governor had taken some decisions and implemented some polices in the state. It is however imperative to score the effectiveness, benefits and impediments of these policies and decisions.

Prior to his assumption of office, Governor Sanwo-Olu indicated that he will be embarking on a six Pillar development project, a project he tagged THEMES Agenda. The pillars he claimed will help tackle issues in sectors that are strategic to the growth of the State.

The sectors that Governor Sanwo-olu revealed he will be focusing on during his first term as Lagos state Governor includes: Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st-century economy; Entertainment and Tourism; Security and Governance.

Thus, the review of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s one year in office will be centred on pressing issues related to some of the pillars listed by the state Government as the core of his administration.

Transportation and Traffic Management

Faced with Traffic management, environmental sanitation and Road repair challenges  at his assumption of office, one of the first notable act of the Governor was declaring a state of emergency on traffic management and transportation within the state which brought about the establishment of  the state’s traffic management agency.

Established, authorised and empowered to operate a two daily shift, to control traffic up to 11 pm, one will  hope that the creation of the agency  will bring  a swift and lasting solution to the unending traffics and unavoidable holdups in the state, but situation never seems to be different. Despite declaring a state of emergency on the traffic management and transport system, the situation has not recorded a positive change.

Another notable decision taken by the State Government that shook the transportation sector was the restrictions and bans placed of ‘Keke Napep’ and Motorcycles popularly called Okada in the state.

The ban which took effect from February 1^st, 2020 restricted bikes and tricycles from plying major routes leaving Lagosians at the mercy of ‘Danfo’ drivers and a long BRT queue.

The government’s decision was highly criticized as many Lagosians were of the opinion that asides from stripping people of their livelihood, the government’s decision was only going to make the traffic situation go horrible.

Not far from what Lagosians predicted, the appalling situation of the state management system moved from bad to worst with most Lagosians left stranded at bus stops and commercial bus drivers hiking Bus fare.

Affecting fast-rising new generation transport brands like O ride, and Gokada, the state’s government’s move to ban Motorcycles and Tricycles in the state was highly criticized with investors in the Bike transportation sector incurring loss. Meanwhile, the government believed that the action is in the best interest of the populace.

It is important to note that the state Government’s move to ban bikes in the state, have not yielded many benefits as it only succeeded in letting Lagosians spend more time at bus stops and paying more to get to their destination.

Despite failing to manage the problem of traffic faced by the state, one laudable action taken by the Governor was to ease traffic gridlock along Apapa-Oshodi corridor caused by illegal parking of trucks. Sanwo-Olu’s government’s collaborative action with the Federal Government led to the removal of the trucks from the affected highways, resulting in improvement of traffic situation on the axis.

Waste Management

One of the issues identified by the Babajide Sanwolu’s administration was the challenge faced in the waste management system. It would be recalled that expert had scored the past administration very low with regards to the poor strategies deployed in the waste management system.

Prior to Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s assumption of office, roundabouts, main junctions, road sides and bus stop became dumpsites all in the name of ‘Cleaner Lagos Initiative’, the waste management strategy to ensure people drop their waste at various collection points.

However, Sanwo-Olu, when he took over, ensured that he terminated the contracts of the less effective foreign waste management organization, ‘Vision Scape’  and urgently  improved the capacity of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to remove heaps of waste that littered streets and highways, thereby saving the State from an outbreak of an epidemic that could result from indiscriminately dumping of refuse by residents after the disengagement of LAWMA by the last administration in overseeing waste management.

Sanwo-Olu also launched an initiative called the Blue Box Initiative, which was geared towards waste recycling.

The initiative has enabled the State to create jobs and wealth from recyclable waste materials.

Road Rehabilitation

One of the aspects that Sanwo-Olu’s administration deserve commendation for is in the area of road rehabilitation and construction. Since assuming office a year ago, Sanwo-Olu had put a lot of efforts in fixing potholes around Fadeyi-Jibowu axis of the state and other vital areas also.

The government awarded the construction and rehabilitation of 160 roads as at December 2019, this in addition to the 20 roads that have been awarded earlier. There are ongoing works at major roundabouts across the state.

A statistics released towards the end of 2019 revealed that the Lagos State  Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) had rehabilitated over 200 roads since assuming office and would be carrying out repairs of 116 inner roads across the State.

Though there are some areas which roads remains untouched, Lagos residents now attest to increase in the speed of work on road infrastructure across different Local Government Areas of the State which is in line with the promise to commence extensive road rehabilitation and construction once the heaviness of the rain subsides.

If we are to look at the work done by Sanwo-Olu’s administration on Road rehabilitation, we will agree that he deserves a lot of commendation for the effort he has put and is putting in construction and rehabilitation of road infrastructure in the state.

While this piece is not to commend or discredit the performance of the current administration, it is to help Lagosians understand what has been achieved so far based on some key promises of this administration.

There are 3 more years to go, one will only wish this administration the very best and also plead that urgent actions are taken to ensure the fulfillment of all its campaign promises.

Good and laudable efforts are not achieved by mere wishing but by taking cogent actions.

Congratulations to Sanwo-Olu for the first year in office.

Greater things to be achieved in the coming years.