The Governor of Lagos State, Sanwo-Olu, on Friday, shared some of his experience few days after taking over the mantle of leadership from Akinwunmi Ambode on May 28, though the inauguration was on 29th May, 2019.
The Governor spoke in an interview with State House correspondents on the sideline of the expanded security meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa Abuja with the 36 Governors of the federation and Service Chiefs as well as head of security agencies, the governor said that security of his Lagos state was his utmost concern.
Sharing his experience since he mounted the seat of power, he said, “Well, the experience is real, it got to show that the challenges are real, they are there, it’s not a tea party. You don’t sleep and wake up and the traffic has gone down, you don’t sleep and wake up and there is no rain and that you’ve resolved Apapa gridlock, it’s real.
“So it’s something that one has psychologically prepared for. So the best thing to do is to ensure that you are not about looking for what the other person did but it is for Lagosians seeing you do what you said you are going to do for them.
“You don’t do it from the office, you have to do it from the road, you have to do it so that people will see and truly know that you mean business. “I dare say that I have lost weight and probably I will loose a little bit more but I think it’s what the job entails and is to also ensure that you have the right team of people that would also support you.
“So when as a leader, you show that leadership support, then the message itself will trickle down and trickle down very well and that is why we have to take that very bold idea and you’re going to see a lot.” Commenting on the level of progress concerning the Apapa gridlock, Sanwo-Olu said “It is a work in progress.
If you go to Lagos now, you will see that they have started clearing it. So for us, it is not just to do it but to ensure that we sustain it. “So sustainability is critical. It is to build a model where it is sustainable and we are not also involving the big players we are also discussing with them – the shippers council, the shipping lines, NPA, NIMASA and all of them that are stakeholders in the conversations around port utility, we are settling it. “We will continue to engage ourselves and come up with a sustained resolution not just a one off.”
The governor said that regional cooperation to check kidnapping and banditry in the South West, was work in progress,adding that already action was going on. He said, “I don’t want to be at the risk of preempting what that body will do, let us wait for them to come up with a proper action plan at the regional level and let’s see what solution it will come with.” On the security meeting with the President, he said, “Security is everybody’s business but as a governor we also have a major responsibility to ensure that as number one security officer of the state, security of lives and property is also paramount.
“But beyond the fact that everybody has some responsibilities, just as a father has his kids, a wife is to her children as managing director is to his staff, so the state Governor also is to the entire state. “So It is a work in progress for us as a state and for me in particular, it is something that I take it very seriously. We are not just to be mouthing it but we make sure that we put resources in place and strategies.
“We have been talking about domesticating and pushing part of the initiatives around security trust fund, that we’ve done. “We will continue to engage, and continue to identify. What are the sources, what are the underlining issues that are bringing about it the problem. Are they economic? Is it more than that? So that we will also attack the root cause. It is something that is for us as a government since we are looking for investors.
“We certainly must continue to be in a position where we can give confidence to all our investors that it is a safe haven to come and invest. So for me it is important, it is paramount and I thank Mr President for calling us to have this conversation.”