Oluseun David Onigbinde
On the Ambode issue, let's start with this quote by Salihu Tanko Yakassai, a Kano State senior official, who wrote:
"So many lessons from these ongoing "primaries". Politics is
not what you think it is, it is what it is.
Its about interests of few,
not that of people. If the interests of those few align with that of the
people, then you see them on the same page, but don't assume they are
doing it for us"
Ambode has been evicted through a popular mandate of the party. The
leaders at the forefront were the same persons who hailed him as the
best thing to happen in recent times. After being bereft of excuses,
they said that he didn't follow the Masterplan, you can read that as the
master's plan. Never believe that the issues that you complain about
are the same issues that matter to the powerbrokers. Whatever issue they
had with Ambode, it could have been resolved.
I have few issues with Ambode most especially the Visionscape and
Otodo Gbame. I remember how in a hail of fire and gunshots, thousands
were evicted from a land they lived for decades. Lagos "progressives"
can't understand that being informal does not mean illegality. Every
court injunction was sabotaged and no one was held accountable for pain
and deaths. Ambode never addressed it.
Ambode brought Visionscape, a single monopoly to handle Lagos
waste. The PSP operators, a major group in the party structure, were
taken out in an insensitive way. Insensitivity was the key word, being
out of step with the system. When PSP appeared, there were issues with
the cart pushers but it was resolved. I know LAWMA officers who were
relocated to local councils, practically left to do nothing. Visionscape
has issued a bond of N27bn, guaranteed by the taxpayers payments. They
are suppose to charge the citizens an Utility Levy, but that won't
happen with the noise that followed the tenement rates. N27bn will be
paid to bondholders, Lagos guaranteed that.
Toll gates fees were hiked with no transparency or public
communication . No one knows when the tolls will expire, just
traditional opaque Lagos. I remembered the date Lagos was flooded
heavily, rather than being on the ground facing the issues, our Governor
was in Abeokuta, attending a function.
You can add the issue of opacity in Lagos state finances. I
remembered sitting with the first Commissioner of Budget and Planning,
asking him that we should change this culture of opacity. We talked for
two hours. He promised to take small steps in education and health. Then
he stopped picking my calls, a former senior partner in a consulting
firm, I was sad of how the Nigerian "intellectual" behaves in power. It
was a shame. Lagos continued the culture of opacity, it is the only
state I know that public budgets are gross summaries, no public line
items.
The key issue is that Lagos has always thrived on pop-up
contractors who are creation of the sitting governments. I watched how
new pop-contractors handled all the main projects in Lagos. This is a
silent grouse of the rank of the party and some civil servants - the
centralization of benefits. I watched how Lekki roundabouts were wrongly
done but no one to check the quality.
I also had issues on some ideas like the obsession with bus stops
or the fencing of Lagos with barbed wire making it like a voluntary
giant prison. Where exactly was that copied from or just another idea of
a governmentpreneurs?
I have seen the fetishization of Fashola but that's also a problem
of low standards. Lagos inner roads were a sham and that was Ambode
first target. What were his predecessors doing? I lost my friend in
LASUTH, I don't pray that's your portion. Lagos healthcare is a sham, no
clear strategy on moribund primary healthcare in three years.
The Badagry rail came with its issues. Exchange rates devaluation
triggered the costs but Lagos that doesn't communicate would never
explain that. There's no end in sight. Going back to our first quote,
there were issues, but it aligned with the narrative of a few who felt
the public treasury distribution didn't reach them.
Ambode made the people of Epe happy, you need to drive road from
Lagos to Ibadan,through Ijebu Ode. Few bridges, attention to security,
LASEMA, inner roads and others but does that justify aggregate revenues
of over N1.2tn in three years? How do I know if the numbers aren't
transparent?
We now have a man who analysts say he's just a call centre agent
for the Master, aptly put as Sanwo Eko. It's clear that certain persons
wield power, rising on the vulnerability of the masses to further their
agenda. So, there's no victory in sight. Sanwo-Olu does not have a
manifesto, he says it's a participatory one. I don't know anyone who
wants to lead a place and doesn't have a vision. I don't believe this is
the right person just a pliable person that the party brokers can find.
Lagos needs an overhaul of political architecture. It simply means
like we did for the FG, Lagos is due for a new party to lead it. The
decision is left for the people as interests involved won't go down
without a fight. You can see the entire architecture - transport workers
lords, market leaders and the corporate elite - is woven around this.
The master's plan continue, lets not be naive, it was not the
Masterplan, that was written in 2013. The actors are just trying to hold
the taxpayers' hostage, in a distributed mechanism. Do the taxpayers,
the formal workers, the ones who pay PAYE, who oil public finances of
Lagos, have the numbers?Do they have zeal? Is there a candidate?
There's a system that breeds insensitivity and disdain for
accountability. The system is due for overhaul. The choice is left to
the voters.
Everyone says that taxes will incentivise accountability, the people of Lagos have not proven that right.
Oluseun David Onigbinde is a Nigerian entrepreneur and open data
analyst popularly known as the co-founder and CEO of BudgIT, a Nigerian
civic startup.
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