Fashola’s years in Lagos

I will not underestimate the readers of this medium by making preliminary definitive statements by way of headline explication. We shall take it for granted that we all understand the context of the topic, but to be on the same page and remove clouds of doubt or inadvertent misinterpretation, we may simply situate it this way: what did Ex-Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State achieve while here? Once this is established, we can proceed to underscore the ‘actualization’ or lack of it.
This has become imperative because over the past years it has almost been impossible to draw a line between the euphoric foundation laid by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Fashola’s strides! All the efforts of Fashola seem shrouded in the shadows of the superlative Tinubu years so much so that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between their accomplishments. It seems as if everything is intertwined. In fact, some mischief-makers still erroneously believe in their naivety that Fashola, despite his executive status, was perpetually under Tinubu’s apron strings with no liberty or mind of his! All I can say at this point is that Asiwaju did the irrevocable groundwork on which Fashola built and consolidated exquisitely.
Apart from the inimitable era of Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande (LKJ), no other past administrator of Lagos State can be compared to the synergetic regime of Asiwaju and Fashola in terms of all key performance indicators and leadership idiosyncrasies. This unprecedented interconnectedness between Fashola and his predecessor, perhaps, created misperceptions for those who operate marginally on the fringes without the benefit of deep hindsight and privileged information that is, usually, not on the superficial layer of public domain for strategic reasons.
Fashola’s vision, philosophy and accomplishments cannot be detached or isolated from those of Asiwaju. No sane fellow can contemplate that except the person wants to nurture divisive third- world politics that is antithetical to development and societal transformation. By way of extrapolation, if Fashola failed, it inalienably means, inevitably, that Asiwaju had failed too. Conversely, now that Fashola is doing superlatively well as a minister, Asiwaju will, expectedly, equally bask in the glory. That, for me, is the height of symbolism in succession politics. Both men, naturally, will have nuggets of disagreements just like any other two persons, but such personalization of sore areas has not, in any manifest way, affected the enthronement of democratic beneficence in the state.
This analysis should not be seen as a hasty examination of the Fashola years. From the years that he was in office we can comprehensively plot his success graph without lacunae because the morning shows the day. In my part of the country there is a saying that the early morning market determines what the day holds in store for the rest of the market day. If a governor has spent seven out of eight years in office and there is little or nothing to celebrate, then it is not the election year and tenure round-up that he is going to perform magic.
By contradistinction, too, the governor that has not performed creditably cannot wake up now in this vanishing hour to start any lofty or laudatory project! If anyone does that, know ye that it is sheer electioneering gimmickry either for himself/godson or his party because it is irredeemably late in the day!
Fashola has done so well, undoubtedly, but for anyone to say there was nothing but infrastructural decay before he took charge will amount to standing logic on its head. What has happened over time, since 2007, is that he had transformed most social infrastructures which cannot be enough to justifiably declare that he just evolved the city in its current profile. The duo of Jakande and Asiwaju, particularly, and others did make commendable impacts in the state. We cannot because of the currency of the Fashola period dismiss the mega-polis as arising from nowhere or from ruins—that would be most incorrect and amnesic. Till eternity, the Jakande housing institutionalization and academic liberalization in various parts of the city will remain indelible. The same thing applies to most of the roads constructed by Asiwaju and other policies, especially internal revenue generation novelties, which the present administration has advanced unprecedentedly.
In the same vein, we could not have been talking of the state in splendorous and excellent terms if there had been shaky foundations. What would have happened would have been that Fashola would have spent most of his years in Government House trying to figure out the jigsaw of underdevelopment such that there would have been no time for any actualization of dreams!
With regard to the relative security in the state today, it is not the function of any governor or police formation. The point to underscore is that circumstances and failure of security operatives have compelled Lagosians and other Nigerians to be security conscious more than ever before.
It is not a question of the state or governmental agencies intervening to ameliorate our exposure to criminalities and lately insurgency and terrorism for which the country has just been outsourced! Yes, just like most other past and present governors, there are always state government interventions through logistical support to the police in the fight against social deviancy in all its ramifications.
The kind of all-round anti-crime measures Lagosians take these days to protect themselves were never in their purview in the days of yore because crime committal was either low or that the authorities were alive to their responsibilities. We need to contextualize all these before blowing any trumpet. There is hardly any street in Lagos without a form of vigilance committee or neighbourhood watch apparatuses. This is in addition to maximum prison-like protective iron bars and barbed wires both at streets and residences—some residents go the extra mile of having additional security operatives in their compounds! Despite all these steps, we are occasionally robbed for hours without any punctuation from police even when they are alerted! Who is not aware that crime rate in Lagos has exploded due to no fault of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode but incapacitated policing and command incompetency. When I came to Lagos newly in the 80s I used to sleep like a baby with my eyes closed, but these days even in my circumstantial vigil, any unusual sound rattles me and sends me panting for hypertensive breath with lethal prospects of cardio-vascular calamities!
This is a state that has never been dependent on statutory allocations unlike most of its counterparts which cannot function without the monthly dole-out from Abuja. Even when former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, vindictively starved it of local government funds on more political and less constitutional grounds during the Asiwaju years, the state still carried out its responsibilities until the fund was made available by the late Umar Yar’Adua who succeeded Obasanjo. Issuing from this, therefore, any fiscal independence or IGR upswing that the state is enjoying now is attributable to the groundwork of Asiwaju.
To the foregoing extent, therefore, everyone cannot but be agreed that Fashola had really actualized things and surpassed even the expectations of his mentor and other Lagosians. But one fact remains salient: his attainments cannot be applauded without recourse to the foundational antecedents of Asiwaju and other predecessors of nobility in the state, most especially LKJ.