LAGOS STATE GOV. CONDEMNED TO SUCCEED

His mantra throughout the electioneering campaign two years ago was ‘EKO O NI BAJE O’ which literally means Lagos will not be destroyed. Two years and Governor Tunde Fashola is perhaps doing the best solo cabaret Nigeria’s commercial capital has seen in a long while. Oshodi, a slum settlement in the state’s centre is feeling the brunt of the Governor’s ram-rod desire to transform Lagos into a mega city and perhaps 1 of 20 most important and influential global cities by the year 2020.

On the eve of the first working day of the year, thousands of street vendors were served cold pottage for supper as several makeshift shelters gave way to the flames of the state’s planning authorities as it embarked on an unprecedented clean-up exercise. The following morning, mouths wide open and hands over heads, several peddlers could only gape in awe at the loss of their businesses. The show only picked up when several local TV news crews arrived. ‘They’ve stolen my livelihood’ ‘I am the bread winner of my family, where does this Government want me to go?’ and yet another said ‘they’ve only given a reason for criminals to flood the streets’. And the cries continued unabated despite calls for calm and restraint from some market union leaders

But the street merchants had this coming long ago, nearly six months ago they had been asked to leave; being illegal squatters they were not obliged to receive compensation for the loss of their shops. However like many unheeded Government laws many smart Alecs preferred to play mute like the Biblical Zacharias. Hence their burnt shops have served as sacrifices on the altar of Lady Justice.

Yesterday several commuters in a bus derisively shouted ‘EKO BAJE’ a pun on the Governor’s mantra this time meaning ‘Lagos is destroyed’. The truth is the Governor knows unearthing Midas in Lagos requires urgency and sternness. His predecessor Bola Tinubu spent eight years chasing political shadows; gross infrastructural decadence and urban blight reigned supreme and the state slowly slipped down the abyss of a Tyranopolis.

It is in this year that the Governor intends to leap frog the state’s epileptic and chaotic transport system with a light railway system. But then Tunde Fashola is condemned to succeed. Bola Tinubu had embarked on an ambitious independent power project when the National electric power grid could no longer feed the state’s burgeoning power demand levels. A messy spat with the federal Government after ENRON; the state Government’s project consultant spectacularly collapsed, leaving the state a huge debt profile and off course pervasive darkness prevailed.

Once again the odds are stacked against the Governor; the Federal Government’s light rail project is enmeshed in a corruption scandal which isn’t ebbing and hell would most likely freeze over before any rails vibrate. The Governor has continually argued that the mega city dream of Lagos belongs to everyone, divining that if Lagos fails, Nigeria fails. Sadly more markets and houses would have to give way to the paraphernalia of a modern city like the light railway, this is a reality.

However this time something tells me he’s got the right cards, and for Lagosians, perhaps it’s to remember that popular work-out sing-along ‘no pain, no gain’

aghogho, CONNECTAFRICA

Hello Africa!!

It’s another rainy morning on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, a second consecutive day of heavy downpour that has washed the streets clean or rather brought out the muck and slime from several of the state’s blocked drains. I rubbed my weary eyes letting out a huge yawn I wonder if the streets of Accra, Lome Johannesburg, Harare and Hokkaido are experiencing this cold and wet morning. Yes, Hokkaido, Japan where the G8 summit is currently taking place. Last weekend, seven African leaders were representatives of the continent before the privileged eight to present Africa’s case on why it should be considered a serious partner in the new frontier for world development. Former president of the United States, Bill Clinton’s controversial remarks almost a decade earlier sparked strong reactions when he said the G8 had posed the wrong question when it asked what can be done for Africa rather what can be done with Africa. He had questioned the rationale behind continuing aid and grants to the continent when project implementation rates continued to dip. A question of semantics some critics had argued, but not so when several of Africa’s poor countries were beneficiaries of a successful Tony Blair led campaign to ensure a hundred percent debt cancellation. A momentous applause greeted that seemingly act of goodwill, but that was three years ago. It is indeed doubtful if those rescued African nations are faring better even with a reduced and sustainable debt profile. The problems confronting the African continent definitely surpass a recipe of semantic and free will offerings served either hot or cold by the G8. In the coming weeks, finding out how sincere the G8 is in pursuing its goal of achieving a sustainable, cleaner and better environment for mankind will be in focus and on the other hand the African continent will be watching and wondering if these issues-reduction of green house gases, sustainable use of energy and non-renewable resources would be tackled in the same manner  the G8 had failed to meet its promises of increased aid development packages for the African continent