Ayo Alonge
Lagos, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities, has, no doubt, had its own fair share of the pros and cons of governance and administration characteristic of a cosmopolitan state as ours. To this extent, it behoves all Lagosians to, at this moment, to make the best use of our index fingers by cleverly queueing behind the pair that will advance our Lagos to a greener pasture, say to Eldorado, if you like.
As we go to the polls for the governorship election in Lagos, come March 9, having heard them talk and act, I can confirm and tell for free that the Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat ticket is the very best for Lagos. I don’t know of any pair else who has shown so much readiness in taking up the daunting task ahead, while engaging all sectors on blueprints for development. The duo of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat are super-intelligent, youthful, resourceful and experienced.
Having unveiled their manifesto, tagged Project THEME, which they fondly tagged “The Five Pillars of Development”, which will focus on traffic and transportation, health and the environment, education and technology, making Lagos a 21st century economy, as well as entertainment and tourism, one cannot but agree beyond every doubt that this team is gallantly posed for engendering a smarter and better Lagos for all.
Scrolling through his curriculum vitae, Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu, an astute banker and technocrat of repute, has served Lagos in many capacities and contributed to a greater Lagos, in no small measure, as commissioner and head of a major public parastatal in the state.
The 53-year old Sanwo-Olu is a graduate of the University of Lagos, the London Business School, Lagos Business School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was the Managing Director/CEO of Lagos State Property Development Commission (LSPDC).
He is also a Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Training and Development (NITAD) and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM).
Sanwo-Olu has plied his banking trade with former Lead Merchant Bank between 1994-1997, where he served as treasurer, before he moved to the United Bank for Africa as Head, Foreign Money Market. He later proceeded to First Inland Bank, Plc (now First City Monument Bank) as a Deputy General Manager and Divisional Head. He was the Chairman of Baywatch Group Limited and First Class Group Limited and a board member of the Department for International Development (DFID/DEEPEN) Fund and Audit Committee of Caverton Offshore Services Group, Plc.
In 2003, he was appointed a Special Adviser on Corporate Matters to the then Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro. He later became the acting Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, before being appointed as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry by the then Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In 2007, Sanwo-Olu was appointed Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions by Governor Babatunde Fashola. In 2016, the resourceful and efficacious technocrat was then appointed as the Managing Director/CEO of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Some of his notable public sector achievements include the supervision of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) privatisation projects. He set up and was the Pioneer Board Chairman of Lagos Security Trust Fund. The LAGBUS System and the Control & Command Centre in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, were subsequently established under his directives.
Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, a brilliant engineer has been in the picture for years too, having served as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the state and later appointed as the Commissioner for Science & Technology.
Hamzat, a 54-year old graduate of the University of Ibadan with a degree in Agricultural Engineering, an MSc. in Crop Processing Engineering and a Ph.D. in System Process Engineering, has over twenty years of work experience in several organisations, including the Columbia University, Merrill Lynch Inc, Morgan Stanley and Oando Plc, the City of New York, RTP Consulting Services.
While he held sway as Commissioner for Science and Technology, Hamzat introduced and enforced the application of modern technology in the state’s ministries, thereby changing the face of data and record keeping in the state. His innovation was also applicable for eliminating the anomaly of ghost workers within the civil service, while ensuring the completion of several infrastructural projects for the mega city of Lagos. In 2013, Hamzat emerged the winner of the fifth edition of the Lagos State Man of the Year Awards.
If expertise, competence, performance and experience are still the hallmarks of good governance and administration, then, assuredly, Lagos is safe in the hands of these two administrators per excellence who have, in various capacities, proven their worth in both private and public fields of engagement.
Ayo Alonge writes from Lagos.
