i pray God should give him d grace to do more

Fashola Advocates Consensus On Best Practices As Recipe For Development

Inaugural Dinner & Ball To Commemorate The Swearing-In Of Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) For His Second Term

May 29, 2011 - Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, as we gather to dine tonight, we do so to commemorate an electoral process that started with Voters' Registration, nomination of candidates, electioneering campaign, actual voting and a swearing in ceremony earlier today that completed the full cycle of the electoral process for the office of Governor of Lagos; because to my knowledge, no petition was filed to challenge the results of this election.

Let us therefore remind ourselves that we did not get here by accident. We got here by a consensus which was forged after the flawed election of 2007.

That consensus was not led by the majority of the members of our society, which includes a lot of under privileged members of our society; on the contrary, leadership for it and the process that delivered it were initiated by the Nigerian elite, financed by them and nurtured for 4 (four) years with the singular objective of ensuring that every vote counted and that every eligible voter had one vote.

Even if we have not achieved the perfect election and it is debatable whether such a thing exists, it is certainly not debatable that we have moved away progressively from where we were in 2007; in terms of our electoral process and we can only get better if we maintain that consensus in subsequent elections.

It is therefore about consensus, especially of the Nigerian elite, and particularly of the Lagos elite that I wish to speak tonight, and I do so for many reasons.

The first reason is that many of the people in the class of our elite population who are the faces and voices who championed the consensus for electoral reform are in this gathering tonight and I could not think of a better opportunity to share my thoughts.

Secondly, history has shown that you do not need a multitude of people to make change and the odd 2,500 of us in this room therefore represent a very small fraction; but I dare say critical mass that can lead change in our State of 18 million people if we reach a consensus tonight to do so.

Thirdly, practical experience has shown that in the determination of choices and change in a community, it is often the resolution and consensus of the elite few that galvanizes the majority to peaceful change; and where the elite few fail to do so, the majority of the underprivileged may seek to effect it often in a manner that is difficult to organize or control.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, is the fact that our small State has come under an avalanche of international media scrutiny in the last few weeks.

The Economist Magazine, the Financial Times, and Time Magazine have all commended the progress and transformation that is taking place in our State.

These interests and comments are significant because they are coming from the stables of some of the international media that was previously critical of us in the recent past.

They are also significant because they did not come as a result of branding in the way that we had previously attempted to do it; but rather, as a result of all of us doings some things in the proper way and the international community took notice and rightly in my view, gave us credit for it.

If we are therefore to prosper, develop our economy, compete on a global stage and be reckoned amongst the world's best instead of amongst the world's worst, we must reach a consensus tonight amongst ourselves to leave here tonight ourselves to become champions of a consensus of best practices in Lagos.

That is my message ladies and gentlemen.

It is a clarion call for a consensus for a better Lagos as a reward for the millions of our citizens who voted and those who did not vote but who rightly expect us to make their lives better.

That consensus will manifest itself in so many parts of our daily lives that we have hitherto not addressed our minds to sufficiently.

For example, we must change our attitude to time and realize that it is a resource that must be judiciously and efficiently utilized because sonce it is gone, it is irrecoverable.

As a Government, we intend to take the lead by organizing ourselves better, scheduling appointments, and doing our best to keep to time in order to give you the most optimum service that is possible during the mandate of 4 (four) years which approximates to just 35,000 hours.

We expect that you will give us your co-operation at all times and be graceful enough to understand and appreciate the need for us to do.

The consensus will come by all of us taking ownership of all public assets like roads, drainages, street lights, traffic lights, traffic signs.

We will all benefit if we reach a consensus not to overload our roads by operating warehouses in residential areas that require us to bring heavy duty trucks to roads in estates built for personal cars. This will make the roads last longer.

We will benefit and be spared the adverse effects of heavy rainfall if we protect drainages and resist the temptation to dump refuse into them.

I believe we will be better for it if we resolve that it is our duty to ensure that no refuse is dumped in our drainage instead of expecting Government to spend our taxes to collect what we should never have dumped there in the first place.

It is important to remind ourselves that at the inception of our tenure, part of the complaints we received were the requests for more drainage networks. We responded by embarking on the provision of drainages and dredging of canals.

Today, we have built 84 kilometres of drainage network, dredged 118 kilometres of existing canals and desilted over 440 kilometres of drainages across the State. But instead of allowing these facilities to serve their optimal purposes, we have chosen to dump refuse in them and expect Government to come back to remove them.

In other instances, some of us have obstructed the flow of water through them by building our houses drainage paths, only to turn round to complain about flooding when it happens, or accuse Government of being insensitive when we exercise the right option of removing buildings that block drainages.

Perhaps, it is an appropriate time for me to inform us that the signs for a very severe flooding are all out in the open. Nature is reacting very violently across the world and the evidence abounds before our eyes from the tsunami in Japan, to the displacement of thousands of people and destruction of homes in many parts of America as a result of flooding due to high rainfall.

These are countries where there is a consensus not to dump refuse in drains, but even they have not been spared. It is not because Government has failed to act in any particular manner, it is because they are experiencing bad weather and nature must have its way to maintain the balance of the ecosystem. Indeed without a degree of rainfall there will be food scarcity and starvation.

As I speak, Lagos is experiencing Atlantic waves that are up to 6 metres high, and flooding of Ikoyi and Victoria Island has only been prevented by the efforts made by your Government to build a sea defence wall on the Bar Beach.

Our State cannot expect to be different.

We are approaching our own period of bad weather. Nature will have its way, your Government has been clearing and cleaning the drains since November last year in preparation and we have not stopped working, but when nature takes over, we must, I appeal, learn to endure.

During each season of heavy rain and winter in Europe the roads are damaged and they are repaired after the season, and this is also what happens here.

Between the end of the raining season around October last year and today, our Public Works Corporation has been all over Lagos. They have attended to over 600 roads and they are still working.

The impending raining season will herald more damage and we will again maintain and repair during and after the season as much as our resources will take us.

This is the never ending cycle of human existence and I crave your understanding for it.

If we wish to see better traffic flow, we must reach a consensus to stop trading on the streets and our elite must resolve to stop shopping from inside their cars while on the highway. It only compounds the traffic problem.

You all know too well those other places where the consensus I have spoken about is needed. Waiting at traffic lights; being patient when there are traffic bottlenecks or when you are expecting service from us; being law abiding and waiting for your turn; resisting the temptation to induce or to offer inducement for quicker service; paying your taxes promptly and living within the law and protecting public property.

Many areas of Lagos already have vibrant Residents' Association. These associations should in my view be the platforms for community involvement to build that consensus of ownership and participation.

Whilst I assure you of our unflinching commitment to continue to give you spartan service and make things better, your consensus to be our ambassadors for best practices will be a big inspiration and morale booster for us.

In the same way that our electoral consensus brought us a better electoral process, I am certain that in 4 (four) years, a consensus of best practices in Lagos, will certainly deliver a brighter rewarding future that will permanently institutionalize all what we have achieved together.

I thank you for listening.

Eko o ni baje o!

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State

.

.

FASHOLAS PRO, RIDE ON!

WILL PICTURES GIVE US BREAD AND BUTTER??

ABEG E DO U!!!!!

This is the proof of a democratically elected officer. The crowd, the accolade, the tranquility and the caliber of people that grace the occasion. writing about the inauguration of Ajimobi in Oyo State.

Compare this side by side with Akala's inauguration in 2007. The difference is clear. I was so excited with what i saw on the TV.

DEEHASAL:

SW Governors must emulate fashola and embark on far-reaching sustainable people-oriented policies that will make life easier for the populace,

My dream is to see ogun state to be like lagos after daniel has wrecked the state amid large sum of debt he left for amosu.anyways,good to know that pdp is a forgotten issue in SW.

BRF nkem!!! Nwoke eji eje mba!!!!

Fashola looks good in a suit