My emergence has nothing to do with Tinubu – Sanwo-Olu
Babajide Sanwo-Olu is the Lagos State governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He spoke to journalists about his emergence and plans to tackle challenges besieging the state including education, healthcare and transportation, among ot
Daily Trust: Can you say that you were APC’s choice or a stooge Asiwaju Bola Tinubu imposed on the party?
Babajide Sanwo-Olu: I find comments like this interesting.I am sure you have been following developments in Lagos APC since the primaries where over one million party men and women came out to cast their votes and the results were out, a product of which I am. My emergence or candidacy has nothing to do with Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. It has nothing to do with the party leadership. It has to do with me taking part in a direct primary.
A direct primary in whichevery card-carrying party member exercised their voting right. It is not fair to reduce this to just a man, whois our leader. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is not just a state leader, he is a national leader of our party. He is preoccupied with issues about the development of Nigeria. He is busy with how to achieve the Nigerian dream. He is our father. He is our leader. We are all his children. There is no issue about somebody being his favourite. The issue is about over 1 million card-carrying members of APC in Lagos who decided who the party flag bearer should be with their votes, and this, I think, is the way to see what happened. DT: What edge do you think you have over Jimi Agbaje? Sanwo-Olu: Well, Mr. Jimi Agbaje is a fellow Lagosian. He is an Egbon. He is someone I know and he is someone I have personal respect for being an Egbon. That is how we were trained and brought up to have respect for people and
most especially those who are older than us. He is certainly older than me, but on the political landscape,our pedigrees and experiences are not the same. If you talk of public service experience, effective representation and credentials, I am certainly better than him. Yes, it is true he has contested three times and you know what the results have been for him. You asked if I am scared. Scare of what? What will a 53-yearold man like me be scared of. We are going into the election and I am sure it will be a good contest. At the end of the day, I will win the election. Let me say again that I respect him and his tenacity for wanting to lead the State.
DT: Generally, when new government comes into office, they discontinue outstanding projects. Will that be the case with you?
Sanwo-Olu: Governance is a continuum. You takeover both assets and liabilitieswhenever you assume office as Governor in the case of a State and whichever way you look at it, we are same party. I have run the state civil service as the Commissioner for Establishment, Pensions and Training. I havemanaged the Budget of Lagos State as Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning. So, I know how some of these things work.
Part of what we will see is the medium-term expenditure framework and projects that are ongoing. We will certainly continue all projects that already have public funds committed to them. It will make no sense to have abandoned projects everywhere. We will complete any uncompleted project and put them to use for the benefits of Lagosians and Nigerians in general. We
will certainly bring about other projects and innovations that will complement all of the things that are happening in the state.
DT: Traffic jams still remain a big problem in Lagos with its many negative ripple effects. Are there plans to tackle this?
Sanwo-Olu: Traffic management is a very serious issue, but also a low hanging fruit our government will pluck easily. Our first study commissioned a couple of weeks ago on traffic hot spots in Lagos showed that there are about 47 points in Lagos where traffic gridlock is always very bad. By the time we drill further down in the last phase of the report, it may be a little above 60 points, where traffic is usually very bad around Lagos. One of the things we need to creatively think about is identifying the causes of gridlock in these areas. Already, we have seen thatin some places, location of fuel stations have been identified as one of the causes of the problem. In some other areas, offices and commercial buildings without parking spaces are contributors to the jams. Quick Service Restaurants, where vehicles are reversing-out of car parks also contribute to blocking of our roads. Of course, we also know that bad roads are a major contributor to this challenge.
We need to design solutions and look at each location case by case. We are currently working with some traffic management experts, who will help us look intothe issues and come-up with smart solutions. There are areas all we need to reduce the big roundabouts.
Traffic signs and traffic lights must be obeyed. It is only when we do the little things we need to do as citizens that we can solve some of our problems, including the gridlocks on our roads. People should not drive against traffic when there is no need to do so, or when not directed to do so by traffic management officers.
We will bring increased efficiency into traffic management in the state. LASTMA officers will be retrained, and where there is need for recruitment of more officers, we will do that. We will do a lot of enlightenment campaign around the issues, while working on implementable solutions. Every challenge will get a bespoke solution. We need to know the requirements of each traffic hotspot.
Part of the solution could also be, for example, in the morning, during rush hours you see places where traffic is moving on one side and not moving on the other side.A smart solution is to look at how we can extend some of the free lanes in the morning and in the evening reverse same into another lane. This means that in the morning, we turn a 4-lane road into a 6-lane, and reverse the order in the evening because the pressure point has changed. People are going back home from work and other places they drove to in the morning.
See, simple solutions like directing traffic to the free lanes to decongest our roads as quickly as possible, especially in the evening, during rush hours, could reduce travel time and enhance our productivity. Even, there are health benefits to effective traffic management, so it’s a major point of consideration for our government.
DT: The general belief is that Lagos is a rich state because of its IGR. But in comparison to the revenue it needs for infrastructure and social services it may not be so rich. What strategies are you bringing on board to increased revenue generation without further burdening the people with tax and levies? Sanwo-Olu: With the size of our economy, the numbers are not there yet on government revenue. Lagos should in the minimum be doing 4 times better than her current revenue. We are meant to be doing 6 or 7 times the size of the budget we are running now. Go and check it out, the budget of the New York Police Department (NYPD) that provides security for the City of New York alone, not State of New York, is $5.6b dollars per annum. The budget for New
If you talk of public service experience, effective representation and credentials, I am certainly better than him. Yes, it is true he has contested three times and you know what the results have been for him
‘My emergence has nothing to do with Tinubu’
York City Fire department is about $3b dollars per annum. Boston as a city spends more money on its Department of Health in a year than the entire budget of Lagos State that will provides for over 20million people.
The current Lagos State budget which is the highest in history of the state is about N1trillion. In dollar terms, Lagos State annual budget is about $3b dollars. That is too small to what we should be doing. We should be aspiring to meet-up with cities in more advanced nations. We will work without adding to the burden of the people, but by widening the tax base. There are lots of people who should pay tax in Lagos that are not paying.
Thatis what bankers and financial experts call financial inclusion. We will work to get more people into the tax net. Government needs money to provide what the people need. Our people must recognize that they cannot enjoy social services and have good infrastructure without paying taxes. People who in one form or the other are enjoying the benefits of Lagos State must contribute to Lagos by paying their taxes.
Lagos used to be the capital of Nigeria. The Federal Government too must invest a lot more in Lagos for the burden she is carrying for Nigeria. People who are in Federal Civil Service in Abuja, still have their families in Lagos. It means till date, Lagos is still carrying the Federal Government responsibility. This is apart from being the commercial nerve centre of the country, where you have the ports and generate more than 60% of economic activities of Nigeria.
We will continue with the conversation that Lagos should get more from the central government. In terms of budgetary provision Lagos has continued to show capacity and we can only do better. The private sector remains the growth engine of any economy. We will continue to create an environment for the private sector to expand in Lagos so that they can do more,for new businesses to sprout and pay taxes through staff PAYE system.
Our government will ensure that the private sector have better experience in terms of the services and support they need from the state government. Things will be done faster and quicker. We know that when private sector can access government services and regulations better, it has an effect on their bottom-line. They have more efficiency and better performance. Those who use government services are customers, and it is important for government to treat its customers well.
Lagos will remain pro-business because that is the only way we can thrive. Government can make more money without even increasing rates and levies, but just by being efficient. If we give better services to people, they will keep coming back to access government services. For example, if it takes 14 steps to get an approval - say building approvals, we should be thinking of how government can collapse the 14 steps to 6 at the maximum, without compromising quality control,and do a lot more.
We can get more revenue with same number of people we have.
That is part of the creativity we will bring on board to increase IGR. We know these things just because we know the terrain. We know the geography of the state very well. We know where all of these hiccups are. We will clear them and remove the hindrances to efficiency.
DT: You served as Chief Executive of Lagos State Development Property Company, (LSDPC). How do you think Lagos can resolve its housing problems?
Sanwo-Olu: You see, people throw a lot of figures around about housing deficit and all that stuff. People often talk about affordable housing; however, I have been searching to know the real meaning of affordable housing and the idea of affordability.
What we require is for our people to understand and have a mindset change. Our housing designs need to be more nimble and efficient. The questions to answer is, are we building what people really require in today’s market? Are we building, or reflecting in our housing what is required in a mega city, a massive city like the size of Lagos? In other jurisdictions I have visited they don’t waste spaces in their constructions like we do here.
We are building a 3-bedroom or a 4-bedroom flat for people that do not need more than 1bedroom or a studio apartment. You will agree with me that probably all your own housing need is not more than one bedroom. These are issues around housing that we need to educate our people about. If you don’t need a 3-bedroom flat, you don’t need to look for it or build it.
Our developers and designers must reflect efficiency. Our housing must reflect proper utilization of our spaces. We have a tiny little box that is called Lagos State and we must use it efficiently. We also need to look around things like shared services. How many of our services can be shared. How can we do a pooling system in our housing delivery?These are some of the innovations around housing we will bring on board. We are studying other jurisdictions and what they are doing in addressing the housing needs of their people.
DT: Governors are against Local Government Autonomy. If elected as Governor of Lagos, will you allow the Local Governments to function and run as envisaged by the constitution, such that people can hold local government officials accountable on grassroots development issues? Sanwo-Olu: To be honest with you, I will. I believe we have gotten to a stage we have to respect the constitution and allow the local governments to run as a tier of government. There are 3 tiersof governments.The federal, state and local government. There is a reasonthe constitution makes it such. We need to give the local governments all they need to function well and serve the people as agency of development.
When we do this, we then need to raise the skill and quality of those who go to the local government to work as civil servants and as elected politicians. Service delivery in local governments must go a notchhigher. Maybe, one of the problems of local governments, is also the quality of people running them. The governors may not believe in their capacity, but I believe in their capacity. If they lack any skill, we will train them to build capacity in them to deliver good governance and quality services to our people.
Local Government people need to be trained and retrained. I believe when you give people responsibilities they must be given the authority to execute them. Local Government officials must be given sufficient authority so they can become responsible. By that we can hold them accountable for all of the things they should do. There is so much Local Governments can deliver to our people.
Like in healthcare, where we have the primary, the secondary and the tertiary. All of the things we talk about in delivering our health system are in the primary health, which essentially reside with the local governments. The local roads, clinics, markets, should be fixed by Local Governments and undertake other interventions that will accelerate development. I will certainly work with the local governments in Lagos. I will encourage them and also empower them,to enable them deliver on their promises to our people. Local governments are such an important level of government.
I believe we have gotten to a stage we have to respect the constitution and allow the local governments to run as a tier of government