Governor Akinwunmi Ambode

Mrs Doyin Abiola, at the launch of Cascade of Change, a book authored by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said something profound that of all the Governors, you were the most prepared for the job because a year after coming into office, we can actually see tangible results. What was your winning formular that set the tone for where we are today because initially you were massively critized and labeled as a non-performer?

Just a quick one, don’t let us even talk about the kind of experience that I had and brought into the assignment. The truth is everybody has been talking so much about the rocky start but I need to put it in right perspective. The truth is you cannot just enter into a new position and then just jump and start taking decisions. You think it, you plan and then you act it. So, the whole process is about thinking, planning and acting. The thinking process required making reforms, making changes, understanding the financial situation of government and then putting that in the right perspective, you start to plan what the people now see one year after as the basic things we have delivered. So, obviously the alleged rocky start is about the whole process of the Nigerian mentality whereby somebody just wants you to come in and start making mistakes.

I can say it emphatically that there was nothing called rocky start, it was just the process of planning very well. But beyond that, I have always wanted to serve. I am somebody that has always been an outsider from politics and you know that each time every outsider tried to complain that they are not doing it right and if I have the chance, I will do it right and that drive in me has given me the understanding that this is my singular opportunity to make a difference and that is what we are doing.

With all the complaints that people had about you in the beginning, you stood your ground and you were not distracted. Can you please tell us about that?

Everything in life is about focus and if you have been used to succeeding, you already have a template and it is like it is in your DNA, no matter what the people say, I am focused on my goals and with twenty years of civil service experience, it is not easy being the Accountant General of Lagos State at the age of 37 and getting t the peak of your career at such age. So, you must have brought a whole lot of skill set and so the only thing is that I take the job of the Governor as just another assignment and so it is like a flow.

Many people have tried the Light Up Lagos Project in the past and the issue has always been about sustenance but you have been able to sustain it and Lagos is well lit up at night. How have you been able to do that?

It is all about what I said earlier, you got t think, plan and act. Before we rolled out the Light Up Lagos Project, we have already seen the end issues and the issues are about maintaining and sustaining it. Technically, you put so much energy in maintaining it and you know we have this culture of sustaining the project the issue of people stealing cables and all that. We put all that into consideration and what we have done is more or less to complement the security issues. You know this government is running on a tripod – security, job opportunities and then infrastructure. So, the real cornerstone of this four years is about securing Lagos; have a safer Lagos and with that, you are able to attract investors to come and everybody to do their commercial business. If we are able to do that, we create job opportunities for our people and then thereafter, the taxes we get from there, we use it to improve on infrastructure. That is the way we have been running the administration.

Lagos has witnessed a lot of improvements in terms of infrastructure since you came on board and there are so many bridges springing up. But a lot required to be done in the health sector. What are the plans of your administration to improve on healthcare delivery?

No matter how much has been done in the past we can never really see the real value because the truth is Lagos is now experiencing what you call exponential intrusion into the State. The population is increasing and as long as we create better facilities, people will keep coming into Lagos. Beyond people coming within Nigeria, people are coming from the West Coast. In the last eight years, when the immediate past Governor had actually done a lot to improve on health, you will also see that what he provided was not even enough to carter for all the people coming into Lagos. Now, this second year, I can tell you freely that we are facing majorly the health sector, education sector, the issue of elderly people and then the youths. We believe that in the next twelve months which we are starting from now, you will see a major escalation of the quality of the facilities we are going to provide in our hospitals.

Few days ago, there was an incident that happened in Maryland on the issue of hawking. People hawking on the streets of Lagos and beggars have tripled. What is your plan to curb that?

I like to firstly sympathise with the incident that happened. It is not in our DNA to allow someone to just die by road accident or the way it happened in respect of the incident. But beyond the fact that we lost one person while crossing the road as a result of being running from arrest by KAI officials, I need to tell Lagosians that over 49 buses were actually destroyed and it is costing us like almost N139 million to put those buses back on the road. The issue is we need to enforce our laws because we already have a law in respect of that and then there is a clause in it which says the buyer and the seller are both liable and that we are going to fine them either N90, 000 or a six month jail term. What we are doing on traffic is that we are introducing new strategies to eliminate traffic but Lagos being a cosmopolitan city, you cannot totally eliminate it but now this is the case, in the next few days, you will see on the street of Lagos signs that will be warning you that buyers and hawkers should be aware that there will be fine of N90, 000 or six months. After that, in another one week, you will now see a massive campaign and we will be watching out for buyers and sellers and all we need is just scapegoat. Don’t buy plantain chips or any other item in traffic from July 1, buyers beware.

But are the KAI officials trained to be preventive or allow the act to be committed and then make arrest?

If we want to be realistic, you know how our people are; we know our attitude and as much as we want to be civil, we know how some people can be; people who are just typically stubborn. Ordinarily, our officials are properly trained and we are also even increasing capacity building but the truth is as much as we want to do advocacy, we need to enforce.

Governor Ambode

The financial capacity to get those shops have been designed to be easy to pay. You don’t need to pay a lump sum. Sometimes, they do it in a rental model that eventually you now own it. So, people need to take advantage of such facility and more importantly, you know this issue of creating shops for hawkers and all that actually rest in the hands of the Local Government and so the important thing for us now is to ensure that we scale up the provision of low-level stores and all that to accommodate these people. A whole lot of people who are hawkers, when you check them, I understand from intelligence that there is a cartel. Some people buy fake products and then bring the products in and then give these boys to sell on the street and come back to make returns in the night. So, what I want to advise Lagosians is that when you think you are buying something of quality on the road, be rest assured that those things are fake product.