A must read!by HoluwaToba Temmydayo Olaiya I am an unrepentant admirer of Babatunde Fashola and his seven-year tenure as governor of Lagos State. He has done a lot to change the face of Lagos for the better by renovating the physical infrastructures. But the Ekiti defeat has exposed the Achilles heel of the APC in their Lagos stronghold. In his seven years as governor, Fashola has been contemptuous of the electorate’s need for “stomach infrastructure.” While Fashola has been busy tarring roads, building fanciful tolled bridges and planting grass and flowers; he has ignored the need of the people for basic things of life like food, shelter and gainful employment. There is no pipe-borne water in much of Lagos; and yet the state generates over 27 billion in internal revenue every month. When asked why he did not build low-cost housing in Lagos, Fashola replied contemptuously that he could not find any low-cost cement to buy. Like Fayemi, Fashola speaks primarily for the rich. Under him, the poor in Lagos have been marginalized; oftentimes evicted from their homes without the benefit of rehabilitation. Their menial abodes in places like Mushin, Oluwole, Ojota, Makoko and Ijora-Badia East have been bulldozed. Their markets in Tejuoso, Yaba and Oshodi have been demolished. The new stalls that replaced them were priced beyond their pockets. Okadas have been banned from most areas of Lagos, denying many of their means of livelihood. Alternative means of transportation were not adequately provided, making it even more difficult for those who don’t have cars to move around. The poor residents of the Eti-osa, Epe and Ibeju-Lekki Local Government areas, now have to pay tolls going to and from the Lagos mainland. The people are well-aware that the road-concessions were to the financial benefit of the “godfather” of the APC. Task-force terrorists Street-trading, another means of livelihood for the common man, is also frowned at by the Lagos APC government. As the police chase okada riders down the streets, impounding and inheriting their bikes, so do the “kick against indiscipline” brigadiers confiscate and inherit the goods of hapless petty-traders. Different task force officials in Lagos derive pleasure in harassing and arresting people indiscriminately, often in order to extort bribes. All this has gone a long way in generating hatred for the government among the rank-and-file. In short, Fashola’s marauding brigadiers have become a terror to the people. They seem to be maliciously intent on squeezing the life out of the man-in-the-street. I have this theory about Fashola’s Lagos. If a Nigerian Bill Gates were to decide to give away free of charge 100 billion naira of food to poor Lagosians, he would be confronted with a whole army of Lagos State officials who would impede and hinder him at every turn. They would harass him for this permit and that permit. They would throw every possible bit of regulation at him. So much so that the man might get fed up and just cancel the project. In short, Fashola has run Lagos with disregard for “stomach infrastructure.” Despite being a beneficiary of free education himself, he hiked Lagos State University fees from N25,000 to N360,000. Protesting students descended on his office with cooking-pots and firewood. Even the well-to-do have not been spared from the state’s multiple tax burdens.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 08:57:37 +0000
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