By Moshood Isamotu
Beyond the optics and stretching the truth, Lagos is undershooting in performance, and this is not difficult to prove.
Just look around you, and you will be confronted with a litany of neglect, inactivity, compromises, inaction, and laissez-faire on the part of the government agencies.
Real governance seems to end in Ikeja, the seat of power. A few projects may be located in other areas, but this does not represent the strength of the Center of Excellence, with an average monthly IGR of over N1 billion. Just an example, most internal roads outside Ikeja are in a mess.
Public orderliness is in disarray. Rogues and miscreants, under the NURTW, NARTO, RTEAN, and area boys, now control public spaces and coerce people and transporters to cough up levies with impunity. They are the kings on the road. These transport unions have displaced the government in the maintenance of law and order. This army of lay-abouts, spongers, and freeloaders is a threat to the public peace and debases the image of the state.
From Lagos Island to Mainland, street trading has become part of daily experience and commercial activities because no firm enforcement is in place.
Again, a simple law that bans commercial motorcycle riders on major expressways could not be enforced.
On the Awolowo under bridge Ikeja, last Thursday, a miscreant pulled a gun on us in a vehicle to give him money. If we had not wound up the glass, he would have made real his threat. Just imagine that it was in the night.
Governor Babajide Sanwoolu should stop being a middle-of-the-road leader. He should up his game.
Governance is not just about raising hands and pointing at mundane events. He should raise his steam. Mr. Governor should know that a leader who is conflict-averse, a people pleaser, will not be decisive.
Lagos needs a firm and decisive leader, and not a pacifist in all circumstances.
We once had a Governor, a no-nonsense man, in recent Lagos history, and his administration is today a reference point in the current Republic.
Wake up, Mr. Governor.
- Isamotu writes from Lagos
