When a senior lawyer, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), recently, accused the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of abandoning governance after the emergence of Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), his spokesperson descended heavily on him, calling him names. But the reality is that governance in Lagos is in recess.
Adegboruwa, had in a statement titled, ‘Sanwo-Olu and governance in recess’, argued that since the declaration of the presidential aspiration of Tinubu, Governor Sanwo-Olu has hardly been in office. He added that the governor had become the unofficial campaign manager of Tinubu, his media strategist and personal anchorman.
For many observers of the events in the state, the senior lawyer cannot be far from the truth. Governance in the state is truly at a standstill.
In a country with weak institutions like Nigeria, when a governor or the president is not on seat to drive the process, nothing works. Sanwo-Olu needs to constantly be around or give free hands to heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to take the initiative.
In countries like the United States with very strong institutions, when the president or a governor is unavailable, nobody feels it because the agencies respond to all that the people need to make life comfortable.
Presently in Lagos, with massive rains, many roads in the state have collapsed. An example is the Isolo-Ejigbo-Ikotun road, which has completely broken down. Floods are ravaging some parts of the state with people looking up to the government in vain. Others are suffering from insecurity and serious gridlock. Till date, no information on the Apongbon Bridge that was closed long ago, leaving people to wallow in traffic.
Governor Sanwo-Olu needs to come back from his recess and focus on governance, after all, he is seeking a second term and needs people’s votes.
For now, Nigerians await with bated breath. And for the enervated students, it is still morning yet on creation day.
Credit:- THISDAY
