Yemi Olakitan
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was named the victor of Saturday's governorship election in Lagos State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He was proclaimed the winner of the election by INEC's returning officer, Prof. Adenike Temidayo Oladiji, after meeting the requirements of the electoral act and the constitution.
Many were surprised as Sanwo-Olu easily defeated Labour Party candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour to win the election.
Rhodes-Vivour received 312,329 votes, but Lagos State sitting Governor, Sanwo-Olu won with 762,134 votes.
As a result, it is pertinent to note the achievements of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the reasons behind Lagosians drive to retain him as Governor.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was first elected as governor of Lagos State on March 9, 2019, giving the most important position in Lagos state to a man who had pledged to serve and advance Lagos.
In his inaugural speech, "Awakening Greater Lagos," Mr. Sanwo-Olu pledged to concentrate on six development pillars known as "THEMES," to make Lagos a 21st-century economy, health and environment, education and technology, traffic management and transportation, entertainment and tourism, security, and government.
"Our ultimate goal would be to ensure that Lagos State remains one of the best destinations on the African continent to live, work, and invest in," the governor, who is running for reelection in the 18 March elections, told Lagosians at the inaugural ceremony. He claimed that the six development pillars "reflect our response to the people's longing.’’
Before Mr. Sanwo-Olu took office in 2018, the commercial center of Nigeria produced a total of N382.1 billion.
It was one of two states whose IGR surpassed their federal allotment because the primary source of revenue was taxes.
As Mr. Sanwo-Olu was inaugurated in 2019, the IGR increased to N398 billion. Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic and the Endsars demonstrations, Lagos outperformed all other states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in terms of revenue at the end of 2020, coming in at N418.99 billion.
IGR increased from the previous year by N20.26 billion (5.08%).
Sam Egube, the state's commissioner for economic planning and the budget, stated in February that they are aiming for N77.067 billion in IGR every month, or more than N900 billion annually, when he broke down the state's 2023 appropriation bill of N1.768 trillion.
The lowest of the five states with the highest unemployment rate in 2018 was Lagos, which had an unemployment rate of 14.6% prior to his election as the state governor.
With 1,088,352 unemployed residents, Lagos was one of the four states that topped the unemployment rankings in 2019.
The additional states were Kano, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers.
According to figures from BudgIT, the combined rate of unemployment and underemployment in Lagos reached 41.66 percent in 2021.
Lagos presently has a 29.4% poverty rate, however, according to a report titled Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022: A Better Future for All Nigerians by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Lagos was at the top of the State's Fiscal Sustainability Index before Mr. Sanwo-Olu took office.
According to the States by States Fiscal Performance Ranking report by BudgIT, Lagos rose to the fourth spot by 2021, exhibiting its resiliency with a total income of N658.56 billion for the fiscal year 2020.
In addition, in the last three and half years, Governor Sanwo-Olu has constructed and rehabilitated over 1,000 roads while others are at various stages of completion. He completed the Blue line rail while the Red line rail is under construction.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also built the Imota rice Mill at Ikorodu towards food sufficiency in Lagos State and completed the Lekki deep sea port to decongest the Apapa port in Lagos. He also obtained FG permission to build the Badagry deep sea port and the Lekki International Airport.
Sanwo-Olu commissions 150-classroom blocks, hostels in 15 Lagos Schools. Education in Lagos State witnessed another remarkable moment of infrastructure expansion, with the addition of newly built 150 blocks of classrooms and 1,386-bed hostels to 15 existing schools across the six education districts in the State.
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