I read this article in The Punch Newspapers and I think it hits the right spots. Comments are welcome.

By Abimbola Adelakun, Published: Tuesday, November 02, 2010

A lot of people will fight with their last breath to prove that indeed ‘Lagos is working’ and that ‘Fashola is trying’. I am not going to try to disprove this.

What I wonder is, compared to where we were four years ago, have we really moved as far as we like to believe we have? Are things really that different or because we have been plagued by bad governance all along, we have dropped our standards and ready to accept anything?

This has nothing to do with the man at the helms of affairs in Lagos State presently. It is about the people and the yardstick they use to measure their leader’s performance. Are we really analytical and critical of issues or we simply parrot what we hear from other mouths? Why do we find it easy to mouth ‘our governor is trying’ when all he is doing is his job? Compared to the level of resources at his disposal, does he really score an ‘A’?

If we begin to analyse it step by step, lay it out layer by layer as if we are stripping an onion, in what ways have Lagos state really done better than it was four years ago?

For instance, the roads are still very bad. The local government chairmen have obviously gone to sleep or they no longer live in the areas anymore. There are some areas in Lagos you cannot pay me to go through simply because the road leading to the place is zero.

Can we be a little more critical? Can we challenge those that are in charge and urge them to do what they are being paid to do? Can we stop praising them and celebrating them every minute? Can we stop being sycophantic in the name of ‘encouraging’ them? They have a job to do and they should have known that before they took it up. Any public leader who needs to be ‘encouraged’ to do his job should kindly resign.

When they have served their tenure, we will look back and appraise them appropriately. Until then, let us stop drumming sycophancy in their ears and let them hear the pain we are really feeling.



Eko o ni baje!

Something to ponder!

governing nigeria is a thankless job.

If we begin to analyse it step by step, lay it out layer by layer as if we are stripping an onion

take am easy before you end up on a therapy couch.

tpia@:

governing nigeria is a thankless job.

??

The article echoes my sentiments exactly.