Sanwo-Olu scores high on THEMES agenda - The Nation Nigeria

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu ran his election campaign on “a vision for a greater Lagos.” He based his development agenda upon six pillars called T.H.E.M.E.S, acronym for the various sectors of focus for his administration.

Sanwo-Olu’s clear articulation – amongst other factors – of direction with the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda proved sufficient to win him the governorship. Now, it has been a year since Mr. Governor took over the reins of the state, has he truly delivered on the promises of his agenda?

This is a question not just for now at the one-year mark. It is the question that will form the basis for assessing his entire tenure as governor – at least for the next four years.

T.H.E.M.E.S represents the administration’s focus on Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st Century state; Entertainment and Tourism; Security and Governance.

Managing the challenge of transportation takes prime place in T.H.E.M.E.S deservedly. Traffic Management and Transportation would challenge the policy and execution capacity of the new Lagos State Government.

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Mr. Governor and his team in tackling this pillar has seen a ‘Zero Tolerance for Potholes Initiative’ instituted in Lagos, coupled with a rehabilitation programme which is seeing many roads repaired and upgraded. The state’s junction improvement scheme is in place to resolve bottlenecks at critical junctions. Sixty of such junctions have been identified, and in the first phase, upgrades have begun on four of them.

Transportation is a critical success factor for the other pillars, hence the immediate commitment and strategic focus on this pillar. There are already clear and obvious results to show a promise being fulfilled in this regard.

Lagosians would certainly appreciate significant progress in health and the environment. The allocation to healthcare for the state increased by 58% to N33bn from N21bn that was allocated in 2019. This has consequently activated series of refurbishments and capacity building in the health sector of the state.

Also, a cleaner Lagos has been the mantra at Alausa as the Government continues to work with respective agencies and stakeholders to restore a structure for cleaning the city-state truncated earlier.

As far as governance is concerned, Sanwo-Olu promised transparency in the management of Lagos State finances. The buzz had been that Lagos State is notorious for the opacity of its finances with no figures available to the citizens for various infrastructure projects.

Mr. Governor has ensured this is changing with constant communication, transparency and partnership with the residents of Lagos. A greater Lagos can only be achieved if we all work together to build the city we all dream of.

The T.H.E.M.E.S agenda is tied to a four-year duration and a quarter-way along this journey, there is sufficient evidence that inspires confidence in the leadership and governance of Mr. Governor.

“Lagos must again rise and help lead this nation to fuller progress and to a closer realisation of the greatness that exists within all Nigerians”, Sanwo-Olu charged. This is the inspirational spark that kicked off his tenure and continues to keep the engine running, hopefully for the next four years, and beyond if need be.