Lagos is one of the 36 States of Nigeria. It is home and work place for over 15 million people by conservative estimate. Nigeria’s population is believed to be close to 200 million now although the last population census was in 2006. Another one has been long due since 2016. But that is an aside.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu is now the Governor of Lagos State, the commercial heart beat of Nigeria. He is the beneficiary of the sudden drop of Akinwunmi Ambode from serving a second term in office. Ambode had fallen out of favour of the chieftains of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC and so Sanwo-Olu was positioned to step into his shoes which indeed he did in May this year.
There is no way the inhabitants of Lagos State would have forgotten the towering campaign of Sanwo-Olu against his opponents that came late to the campaign turf and could not match his visibility. His posters, billboards and fliers bedecked Lagos. He promised everything short of miracles in his bid to gain the support of the electorate in the State.
In the end he won the State’s gubernatorial election and everyone developed appetite for action. It would appear that the new Governor was aware of the expectations of the people and so he hit the ground running immediately after he was sworn in. He traversed the State like a new Sherrif in town. Lagosians warmed up to him as he started barking orders to contractors handling various projects in the State to deliver in a hurry.
Four out of many yardsticks for measuring the success or failure of any government in power in Lagos State stand out in bold relief. One is the condition of the roads. Close to that is the flow of traffic. The third one is refuse collection. Last but not the least is security.
Sanwo-Olu on assumption of office gave some ‘hand signals’ that he would tackle the four issues head on. His first few weeks were spent roaming the city of Lagos with a media crew that brought his fever pitch activities to the knowledge of the inhabitants of the State.
However, all of a sudden Sanwo-Olu virtually disappeared from public view. Well, we knew that he was a member of the Nigerian delegation led by President Muhammadu Buhari to Japan for the Japan/Africa summit. He was also spotted in New York during the just concluded United Nations General Assembly’s annual session where Heads of State and Governments spoke to a world audience.
Meanwhile rain has been torrential in Lagos. Streets have been flooded. Potholes turned to craters and ponds. Houses have been ‘swallowed’ by the floods. A worse traffic situation became worst. Refuse blocked drainage channels. Light fingered persons pestered motorists caught in traffic sneers to dispossess them of their cash, mobile phones and other valuable belongings.
In the wake of all these, the people raised their voices that their Governor was nowhere to be found. It was too early in the day for the Governor to disappear from public view. The invisibility of Sanwo-Olu reminded the people of his mannerism of pointing to all sorts of things while he was creating the impression that he was addressing the nagging problems of metropolitan Lagos in particular.
Some of the photos reproduced here gave the helmsman in Lagos State sobriquets like ‘pointing Governor’ and ‘Pointus Governor’.
Perhaps aware of the seaming disappointment of the inhabitants of Lagos over his lacklustre performance at the threshold of his reign, Sanwo-Olu chose last Sunday evening to assuage the anger of the people. He emerged from a meeting with representatives of eight civil engineering companies with the message that they should commence palliative measures to fix deplorable Lagos roads.
The rainy season may be on the verge of ending very soon. The issue uppermost is whether or not Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s regime is capable of meeting the expectations of the people of Lagos State sooner than later.
