Interview: Gov. Sanwo-Olu Has done Well for Lagosians – Omotosho

In 2019 when Governor Sanwo-Olu rolled out his campaign and anchored his campaign promises on an agenda known as the THEMES agenda, humanly, he had envisaged that given his preparedness to serve, his experience in Lagos state having served under all the governors the state had produced since 1999 and picking a classic, experienced and workaholic man as his deputy, it will be a smooth ride. Alas! Fate had a fast and tricky card to play on him and his government. 

In between his take off as governor and as he was settling down to start delivering his campaign promises comes the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the globe. Lagos became the epicentre of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Just as the battle to curtail the pandemic was getting over and life was coming back to normalcy, comes another unforgettable event; the endsars protest. Lagos the commercial nerves of the country, again became the battlefield where the youth vented their anger and slogged it out with the government of Nigeria. During this period, irate youth vandalized and unleashed untold damages to public and private properties. For the government of Governor Sanwo-Olu, it was a begin again and a change of plan in handling the huge damages already caused by these protesters. These staggering events were enough for any leader of government at that time to throw in the towel but Governor Sanwo-Olu knew that the real test of leadership is in the ability to turn an ugly situation around forged ahead in his resolve to build a greater Lagos. Although, the opposition has been raising a campaign of calumny against the Governor and his cabinet for what they tagged as non-performance, the News Hub Mag! crew, caught up with the government’s image maker, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, the commissioner for information, who spoke extensively on what the government has been up to. He Xray the THEMES agenda while reeling out projects that have been done, those nearing completion and those in the pipeline. Please, sit back and enjoy the interview. 

News Hub Mag!: Recently Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu increased workers' salaries in Lagos State, some Nigerians opined it is a mere political move just to win the upcoming election, what's your take on this? 

G.O: I thank those who acknowledge that Sanwo Olu did that, but let me just go straight to answering the question. Anybody who thinks that this was done as a matter of political expediency, the person isn't fair to Sanwo Olu. When Sanwo Olu came in, in 2019 he did a similar thing and nobody said it was political at that time. I do not know why they're now reading political meanings to this one. It's not because of politics and if people are saying it, especially people who are not Lagosians, let them advise the governors of their state that they should do the same and let's see how it goes. Sanwo Olu loves the workers. That's not the best thing he has done for the workers. For all the housing projects we have in Lagos, workers are given 20% of the allocations. apart from that, about 100 buses were made available for workers to take them home after work. We are on the right track.

News Hub Mag!: You were talking about the provision of buses for workers after work, how efficient has this been? 

G.O: Very efficient. If you get to the roads, you'll see these buses passing. Some of the buses have WIFI in them, when you get on the bus, you'll know that's what Lagos workers deserve. We are ever ready to help. 

News Hub Mag!: Recently Okada riders were banned in some areas of Lagos. What gave rise to the ban and do you think this is sustainable?

 G.O: This is not the first time that Okada has been banned in some parts of Lagos State. Lagos traffic law 2018 bans Okada from all major roads in Lagos. Two years ago, the government made a pronouncement that Okada shouldn’t be found on some roads, nobody ever thought at that time that covid'19 was going to come upon us, by the time Covid'19 came, it became very difficult to enforce that law, in fact, everybody was fighting to stay alive, so when Covid'19 subsided, we went back to the law because firstly Okada is not part of our vision for a greater Lagos. Rail, Water and road are what we intend to develop Lagos transportation with, Okada is not in the picture. the governor invited all the police chiefs and got their commitment that Okada should be kept away on Lagos roads the government then banned Okada in 10 LGAs and later added four more LGAs there was a town hall meeting where civil society and people attended including the traditional rulers and they all agreed that considering the series of security issues in some parts of the state, they should ban Okada. Today, the records in an emergency have shown that it was a wise decision the about 70% of the accident victims from Okada being brought into the emergency center have decreased. The government introduced first-men and last-men buses that can go inside those areas where Okada has been exterminated. There are about 500 of those vehicles, two weeks ago 400 of them have been injected into the system.

News Hub Mag!: What's the government doing about the traffic congestion which has led to insecurity in the state?

G.O: I read in the news days ago that the police arrested 7 traffic robbers taking the advantage of the traffic to steal from the people. Lagos has a very strong security architecture that can be activated in a matter of seconds and it's working. The state is working with the federal government through the Lagos State employment trust funds the private sector is being encouraged to join the government in tackling insecurity even before it takes place. So, we've put in so many resources for the government to be able to get equipment, cars, bulletproof vests, bulletproof helmet, and so many other kits for the security agencies for them to perform their duties the way they should perform them. The crime rate in Lagos State is low, lower than the other states. If you go to some states you'll hear about banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, pulling down government facilities and terrorism. They don't get to Lagos because the government of Lagos State has made it mandatory for all involved in security work to be on top of their game and they're working because the governor encourages them too there's nothing that they ask for that he did not provided as the governor of the state. So, it's very difficult for criminals to have an in-road to Lagos but there's no way you can have a state in which thousands are coming in every hour without having petty crimes, e.g. bag snatching. In so many areas of Lagos State now we have cameras watching you. We are working towards building a smart city. Part of our smart city project is laying around the state 6000km of fibre optic cables, the first phase is about 3000Km we are about to finish the first phase and part of the smart city project is that if we lay all these cables we will be able to have faster internet, we will be able to get more people online, such facilities in our schools and hospitals will be free of charge, even in our public places like bus stop we have WIFI, and part of it is also the cameras all over the place. We are targeting about 2000 of those cameras. We've done about 1400 in the first phase. if you go to Allen avenue and some places, the cameras are there. And we have a control centre where everything is displayed. So, we are trying to use technology to resolve security problems.

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