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Dear Honourable Minister,
We greet you in the name of Allah, the most merciful.
We hope this letter meets you well.
We also hope that this letter, considering that we didn’t send it to you
directly, does not come as a shock or surprise. We figured that it was
better that the public reads about our anger and angst just the same way
as you would. We are pained. We are scared for our future. That is why
some of us, young professionals and native Lagosians, bound by a common,
deep-seated disenchantment with the way our beloved Lagos State is
being run, decided to speak out about why we believe you owe our
generation your robust leadership nurtured and burnished by decades of
tested and trusted political and administrative aplomb.
We are the Coalition of Concerned Lagos Youths and without the backing
of any moneybag or godfather, with or without your support, we shall get
our voices heard from Epe to Ebute Metta, Isale Eko to Ikeja and
everywhere else. Our resolve is that Lagos can no longer afford to be
run by an accustomed stooge remote-controlled from the bedroom of an
intemperate and power-drunk godfather. Lagos is Nigeria’s most important
state and we can’t sit back and allow just one man control its destiny.
We deserve better than the superficial achievements being credited to
the present administration, which have become an awful and ingratiating
cliché. Without a doubt, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola has tried his
best, but like a popular PUNCH Newspaper columnist, Bayo Olupohunda,
averred in his June 6, 2013 column: “While acknowledging the impact of
(Fashola’s) visionary leadership on the state (in his first term)…there
is no excuse why Lagos roads, especially the inner city roads, should be
this dilapidated. The rainy season has exposed the harsh reality of
plying the roads by residents. The state of roads in some communities
seems like a throw back into Stone Age that you would hardly believe you
are in Lagos. The condition of Lagos inner city roads is an affront to
its mega city dream. The rising crime rate should also be urgently
addressed. He should do more to dismantle the perception gaining ground
that his initiatives and projects are elitist and anti-poor.”
Sir, we are not sure whether you know Linda Ikeji but she is perhaps,
Nigeria’s most popular and intrepid blogger. Just last week, she posted a
story on her blog about the deplorable state of roads in Ago-Okota, a
vastly populated, middle class area in Lagos. According to her,
“Business owners in the area say businesses have been forced to close
because of the condition of the road…and residents say moving to and
from their homes is a nightmare.” That is just putting it mildly.
Honourable Minister Sir, if you read the comments section of this
particular post, you would marvel at the outcry of people. Another
commenter, under the pseudonym, Lazy Reader, would make you giggle, but
what he/she said cannot be more poignant than the true situation in
Lagos; “Lagos govt (is) only taking care of roads on (the) Island while
most roads on mainland are bad. They only patch roads on (the)
Mainland.” Need we say more?
Sir, the education sector is in shambles. This year alone, over
N77billion was budgeted for education, yet, go around Lagos, you would
be appalled and astounded by the state of classrooms where pupils are
receiving lectures. Some have blown off roofs like Ladipo Primary
School, Matori in Mushin Local Government Area, which Sahara Reporters
once described as the worst primary school in the world. In a recent
report entitled ‘Infrastructural Decay in Lagos Schools’ by Daily
Independent, the reporter stated, “For the students of Cardoso Junior
Secondary School in Ijora-Badiya, a suburb of the state, learning is
definitely far-fetched. The school suffers neglect in infrastructural
development. Some of the classrooms are without chairs and tables and
where available, the quantity could not be compared to the number of
students in the classroom.” And Fashola has been governor of Lagos for
the past seven years!
Some do not even have laboratories or basic amenities like toilets or
staffrooms. You would be shocked that not too long ago, a seven-year old
primary one pupil, Lawal Buhari, at Irepodun Primary School, Ketu, in
Agboyi-Ketu LCDA, slipped headlong into a pit latrine provided for the
school’s convenience. The story was so disheartening that even the Bola
Tinubu-financed PM News, in its June 17, 2011 edition, captioned the
story thus; ‘The Shame of Lagos; Pupil Dies After Falling Into School’s
Pit Toilet’. It went on to lampoon the state government for its
insensitivity and indifference to primary and post-primary education.
Suffice to say that despite his vaunted leadership abilities, Fashola
and his APC paymasters did not imbibe anything from the late global
statesman, Nelson Mandela who said, “Education is the most powerful
weapon which you can use to change the world.” Or, how else can one
explain the arbitrary, ill-conceived increment of fees in the Lagos
State University. The state government was however made to reverse this
increment when the students went on a peaceful demonstration to the
Governor’s Office.
Honourable Minister Sir, rains are supposed to be an elixir of sort but
when it rains in Lagos, it floods. And mercilessly so too. Arguably,
more than any other state in Nigeria, Lagos spends a lot of money to
curb the incidence of flooding but year in, year out; hapless Lagosians
are subjected to the rampaging fury of floods. Many die, many lose their
properties. Yet, they pay all forms of taxes through their noses. This
is why during rainy seasons, you find all sorts of memes like ‘Fashola
is Working, Lagos is Flooding’ on social media. The rains are here again
and Lagosians are already agitated. Should this be the case in 21st
Century Lagos with internally generated revenue of over N20billion
monthly?
Sir, we can go on and on about the different, atrocious lapses of this
government but to what end? What is important is that we, as discerning
youths, are now aware of the fact that our generation is in trouble if
we continued to be under the vicelike grip of the APC. We are tired of
its mindless savagery and condescending disinterest in making life
better for the people it is supposed to serve. We have concluded that
the situation in Lagos is dire, desperate and requires urgent attention
from a strong government willing to give strong, insightful and robust
leadership. The APC has failed to give this leadership and this has led
us to say we want a man like you with a proven track record of political
experience enough to take Lagos State by the hands and lead it to where
it belongs in the comity of developed states. Fashola came into office
scarcely prepared, but the overbearing influence of his godfather got
him into office. He has been a good governor but we know that based on
temperament, preparedness and the accretion of experience you have
garnered as a Local Government chairman, as a Senator of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, as an Ambassador and now as a Minister; based on
skill set and ability, Honourable Minister sir, you are poles ahead.
While wishing you Ramadan Kareem, we pray and hope that you would be
spiritually and viscerally led to help rescue Lagos from the hands of
these mercenaries mortgaging the future of innocent Lagos youths.
Badmus is the President of the Coalition of Concerned Lagos Youths.
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