…Says simultaneous projects not about timing but fulfilling electoral promises
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has said that he is fully aware of the expectations of 22 million Lagosians from his administration, assuring that he will continue to work round the clock to ensure that the State is transformed and residents can feel the impact positively.
In an exclusive interview he granted, Governor Ambode said residents expect nothing short of good governance from him and that being at the helm of affairs was a task he was prepared to take on headlong and deliver on the job.
“When I wake up in the morning, I am looking at it as I can’t afford to fail, or if I fail, many lives would be affected. I would have failed 22 million people. So, the work is my life I would do everything to perform very well. I have no other job. They did not beg me that I should come and campaign. I stood up and I said, you know what? I have the competence. I have the capability and the character to do this job. And I told them I would do it diligently. So, how can I look back? I cannot. If after 4 years, they say I have done a good job, that would give me satisfaction,” he said.
Besides, Governor Ambode said that governing a State like Lagos was not a tea party; hence every member of his cabinet is motivated to run at par with him to deliver on the mandate promised to Lagosians.
“The truth is this; I put all my totality in my task. My totality means all my team members. I inspire them. I encourage them. I tell them they can be better than the way they came, all just because we are working together as a team. Never shut anybody out. Never even put anybody down, and say, look you cannot do this. In that person maybe a key to unlock the solutions to some of the societal challenges in Lagos,” he said.
The Governor also justified the rationale behind the various infrastructural renewal projects ongoing at the same time in the State, saying the development is basically about fulfilling promises made to the electorate than a race against time.
He recalled that during the electioneering period, he sought the vote of Lagosians and made series of promises if elected as Governor, which according to him are now the motivating factor behind the series of projects initiated by his administration in the last 28 months.
“I have a four-year mandate to deliver those promises. So, whatever that I have done in two and half years, my four years have not ended. You just wait, so you would tick whether I have delivered on those promises. So, it’s not about timing, it is about promises kept. Your word should be your bond.
“The ones I will not be able to do, I will come back and tell them, ‘I am sorry, I wasn’t able to do this’. I will come back and tell them why I couldn’t do it. My word I must keep. That is the only thing that drives me every day. For instance, I promised them the Pen Cinema Bridge, Have I done it? If I haven’t, let me quickly go and do it. So, that is how my style runs. That is what has happened in these last two and half years. I still have like one and half years more. I keep looking at a checklist of my promises. The ones that I can’t do, I will tell them I am sorry, I can’t do it,” Governor Ambode said.