Yemisi Izuora
Lagos State Governor-elect, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has given firm assurance that his administration will give priority attention to addressing infrastructure challenges especially in the areas of transportation, housing, waste management, health and education.
He said that himself and his deputy have the competences and capabilities that will bring good governance as soon as they are sworn in.
”We are actually very excited. We are excited because we’ve seen all the challenges ahead of us and we know that given all the plans and strategies we are putting in place for execution, we will certainly be bringing about solutions that will solve various challenges in Lagos very quickly.
Speaking with the media on why he visited president Muhammadu Buhari, Sanwo-Olu, said he went in company of his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat to congratulate the nation’s number one citizen for winning his second term election in the just concluded presidential election.
The elated President Buhari who received Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat also felicitated with the duo for their victory in the gubernatorial election.
Sanwo-Olu said ”it is important for the deputy Governor-elect and myself to have a one-on-one short discussion with the Commander-in-Chief, and it’s a rare privilege. It was a short one, just to say congratulations to him on his own election and he also said the same thing to us. So it’s a very short courtesy visit to Mr. President.”
On his development focus, he said, “We know that with a mega city of our status, it comes with a lot of challenges but we are lucky that we have been part of it before now and we are excited that the solutions we are bringing up – many of which we told our people on the campaign trail , we are sure we will very quickly, be able to bring about positive development that will improve the quality of lives and ease all of the challenges that we currently have in Lagos,” Sanwo-olu said.
On the recent building collapse in the state which he described as unfortunate, the Governor-Elect said the current government in the state is doing all that is possible to ensure building codes are strictly adhered to and that his administration will strengthen the existing codes and also apply the rules without pandering to sentiments.
”It’s an unfortunate incident. I used to be the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Building Collapse. That was about ten years ago which was what led to us create an agency called Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABCA). It was meant to identify structures well ahead before issues like this begin to happen. But it’s an unfortunate thing, extremely very unfortunate and it also means that we expect it would happen again if nothing drastic is done to check it. Our administration will strengthen the agency and apply the law without sentiments.”
”Lagos truly really needs regeneration especially Lagos Island and that was part of the things we promised on the campaign trail. So, it’s to have a conversation with all of the families on the Island and we’ll see the kind of redevelopment that is important as it’s being done by a lot of other big cities like Lagos.”
Speaking on the issue of urban renewal, Sanwo-olu said proper enumeration of properties is the ultimate solution to achieve success. He said once properties are properly enumerated and the owners see the government’s sincerity of purpose, they will key into it and regeneration can take place.
”Well, it’s really not that regeneration has been a challenge, but because we have not been able to see it through to the end. When you want to take people’s properties and you want to regenerate, they must first see the sincerity of purpose – what are the additional plans that you have for them? Before you could regenerate, there must be a stop gap – in the next two to three years what are the plans you have for them? And you need to do what we call proper enumeration. Once you can enumerate properly and determine who the original owners are, and you sit and have an agreement, then the regeneration will start.
”But like I have said, the major thing is sincerity of purpose knowing full well that you are not out to circumvent them or to shortchange them . Once that is put on the table very clearly and transparently, I believe that as it’s also done in other jurisdictions, we will make success of it.” Sanwo-Olu stated.