Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is a man of many parts. His foremost attribute is his virtue, which is the foundation of most of his other personal traits. A meticulous, intelligent and workaholic gentleman, what prepared Sanwo-Olu for leadership, indeed, is his balanced cognate experience in both the private and public sectors.

It would be an understatement to say that with the available records thus far, Sanwo Olu has introduced a new leadership model in delivering qualitative direction, transparency and accountability as deliberate policies. Ascending his fourth year in the saddle as Lagos State helmsman, Sanwo-Olu has continued to advance the frontiers of governance promoting the common good, upliftment of Lagosians and the construction of enduring bridges and platforms of peace and security.

In terms of growth and development, it is safe to say that Lagos is indeed the centre of excellence among sub-national governments in Nigeria, which, of course, would not have been possible but for the great leaders who set the path, fixed the tracks and ensured the road map to sustainable progress being followed by another man of excellence, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is also making positive impacts and delivering on the mandate by aggressively pushing aside all forms of hindrances, selfish intentions and making the progress and comfort of Lagosians his first priorities.

The leadership of Sanwo-Olu has come with some distinct achievements which include; the construction of over 308 roads, the repositioning of the health sectors through the building of more health centres at the grassroots, and a free health policy for children below 18 years and adults above 65 years of age. One of the projects which caught the World Health Organization’s attention and placed Nigeria as the fourth-best country in the world was how Lagos State, under Sanwo-Olu, impressively curtailed the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This great accomplishment will remain in the hearts of many Nigerians and Lagosians in particular.

In the area of infrastructure, Governor Sanwo-Olu has done a lot of great deeds to ensure Lagos’ economy remains competitive and support the mobilisation of more private sector investment. In the area of transportation, the Sanwo-Olu administration has continued to improve on what he met on ground. He reorganised LAMATA, LASTMA, LAGFERRY and other agencies within the transport sector for better performance.

In addition to these great works, Governor Sanwo-Olu has given many youths a means of survival through the agricultural value chain enterprise activation program he created. He has also not just focused on the youths but also trained more women to become self-reliant and to become employers of labour. More impressively, he has continued to reach out to people through incentives including payment of N40,000 to unemployed youths, grants to business owners and startups and also providing direct gratifications to widows to further eradicate poverty in the state.

In sports, Governor Sanwo-Olu did well by encouraging Chioma Ajunwa who won the long jump event at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 with a three-bedroom apartment of her own in Lagos. This act will further charge our youths who are in the field of sports to continue to make Nigeria proud.

Some of the achievements of Governor Sanwo-Olu including the network of roads completed and commissioned are: 34 roads at Kosofe, Somolu, Victoria Island and Ikoyi;  commissioned 384-capacity multi-level car park at Onikan, Lagos; Flagged off the construction of 3.89-kilometre-long Ojota-Opebi link Bridge; Commissioned 3 network of roads at Oniru, Victoria Island [Adeola Hopewell, Idowu Taylor and Afribank/Church gate Streets]; Commissioned Ikoyi network of roads – Mac Donald road/Lateef Jakande; Roads, Milverton Road and Thompson Avenue in Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government; Commissioned Ijede Road Phase 1 in Ikorodu; Commissioned1.4 km flyover and dual carriageway Pen-Cinema Bridge, Agege; Commissioned Tedi-Muwo Link Bridge, Lagos-Ogun boundary Roads in Alimosho and Agbado-Oke–Odo access roads; Ojokoro Network of roads; Lekki-Epe Expressway; Agric-Isawo Road, Ikorodu; Bola Tinubu-Igbogbo-Imota Road; Oba Sekumade Road, Ipakodo, Ikorodu; Itamaga to Ewu Elepe town; Construction of 22 Bus Shelters; Regeneration of GRA, Ikeja. Ongoing major road are: Oniru Network of Roads Ijede-Ewulepe Road; 1.4 km dual carriage Pen- Cinema Bridge, Agege Ikoyi network of roads; Commissioned 31 network of Roads in Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA); Commissioned the 13.68 kilometers Oshodi-Abule-Egba BRT corridor; Reconfigured 6 Junction/Roundabouts – Allen, Ikotun, Maryland, Lekki and Ajah [under Traffic Management Intervention Plan (TMIP); Did 110 palliatives and 361 sectional rehabilitations on Roads across the State; 650 inner roads were rehabilitated by the Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC).

Inter-Modal Transportation Rail
Acquired 10-Car intra-city Metropolitan speed trains for the 37km Lagos Red Line project; Compensated 263 residents affected by Red Rail Line project right of way; Completed the 380-meter-long sea crossing bridge component of the Lagos; Blue Line Rail spanning Mile 2 to Marina; Flagged-off the Lagos Red Line Rail Mass track sharing with the Nigerian; Railway Corporation (NRC).

Other achievements include the locally assembled 100 double dino bins for the use of Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA); clear4ing of over 96 primary drainage channels; 222 secondary channels were also worked on, out of which 146 have been
completed while 76 are ongoing.

Environmental Regeneration
Acquisition of 102 compactor trucks to ease waste collection; Inaugurated LAWMA Academy to promote environmental cleanliness; Expanded Olusosun Dumpsite to 42 acres to accommodate more waste and ensure that trucks have a quicker turnaround time; Began a Lagos at 4 am programme aimed at stemming the tide of indiscriminate waste disposal across the metropolis; Acquired a Briquette facility, which can process about 1,700 kg of sawdust per hour, in Agbowa (Ikorodu division); Launched the Lagos State Blue Box Recycling at the Simpson Transfer
Loading Station, Lagos Island.

Food Security
Per hour 32-metric tons
Imota Rice Mill (largest in Africa) is nearing completion. The government has trained 97 Senior Secondary School Agricultural Science students, Agricultural Science teachers and Education Desk Officers under the 2021 Agricultural Summer School Programme; Empowered 879 farmers and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) through the Lagos Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project; Began the rehabilitation of its coconut belt in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). This is to create over 500,000 job opportunities and wealth, through training, capacity building and empowerment of youths and women in the coconut value chain; N7.9million transaction done at the maiden Eko-City Farmers’ Market; Trained 575 women and youths, comprising 240 in aquaculture, 300 in poultry, and 35, under the APPEALS project in rice farming; Generated 250,000 jobs via the State’s integrated rice mill at Imota; Provided needed support the production of about 335,000 loaves of bread under the Eko Coconut Bread initiative; Established semi-mechanized abattoir in Oko-Oba in collaboration with private sector.

Tourism Day
Tourism/
Entertainment
Commissioned The New
Glover Memorial Hall
Glover Hall. The government partnered with two private firms to train 1,480 creative practitioners in digital film making, documentary, fashion, arts and craft etc. under an initiative tagged Lagos State Creative Industry Initiative (LACI); Collaborated with Ebony Life Place on the ‘Eko Culture Series’ initiative;

Tourism/ Entertainment
The government launched tourism masterplan and policy
Lagos Film City Prototype. Completed 3 Police Post in Ise, Elemoro and Ilashe; Completed Christopher Olatunde Segun High and Magistrate Courthouse, Badore, Ajah; Completed the renovation of the library at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba; Provided standard Police interview room with recording equipment at the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja; Constructed Administrative block, Police Area Command, Elemoro, Ibeju-
Lekki (Phase II); Constructed Administrative block, Police Area Command, Idimu (Phase II); Constructed Administrative block, Police Area Command, Elemoro, Ibeju-Lekki (Phase III)

Administration Of Justice
Governor Sanwo-Olu inaugurated 4 new offices of the
Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC) at Ojo local government, Iba, Alimosho And Ijede, Christopher Olatunde Segun High and Magistrate Courthouse, Badore, Ajah. Inaugurated the Area L Police Command, Ilashe, Area J Police Command, Ibeju Lekki; Constructed Combined High/Magistrate Courts, Igando; Constructed Combined High/Magistrate Courts, Imota; Established Forensic Toxicology and Chemistry Section and Enhancement of Security and other sections of Lagos State DNA & Forensic Centre: Phase 2 by Turnkey Project;

Security/Emergency Management
The security equipment worth billions of Naira donated by the government to security agencies include; 180 patrol vehicles; 200 patrol motorcycles;  4-high capacity troupe carriers; 2 anti-riot canon vehicles; Armoured personnel carriers; 1,000 security gadgets; Commissioned the Emergency Security Regional Centre, Epe and employed 100 fire-fighters.

It is no surprise that Mr Sanwo-Olu has, in the past three and a half years, impressively followed the legacy of his mentor and political father, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had in his own time laid an enduring foundation through diligent planning and execution of the famed 25-year Socio-Economic and Political Development Plan.

To this end, the trick to the successes so far recorded can be found embedded in the vision, teams, partnerships, innovativeness, economy and the potential encapsulated in the polity called Lagos. From the beginning, it was clear that the seemingly obscure man, Sanwo-Olu is a ready-made product for governorship of Lagos. His pedigree is unquestionable.

To cut a long story short, Sanwo-Olu is very ready for the second term.