Debo Adeniran (ed.) Lagos Open Parliament 3:
The Change We See
Lagos: (CACOL, 2016). 280PP.
The Change We See
Lagos: (CACOL, 2016). 280PP.
A Review
By
Prof. Tunde Babawale
Department of Political Science
University of Lagos.
The Book “Lagos Open Parliament 3” is a product of one
year of painstaking research and investigation incorporating the application of
scientific research instruments and the analysis of research outcomes.
This commendable mission undertaken by the Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) is the focus of our review. CACOL is a
coalition of human rights advocacy/civil society organisations whose main
agenda is the Campaign Against Corruption and Corrupt Leaders in Nigeria.
The project tagged “Lagos Open Parliament” is a
strategic component of its anti-corruption crusade aimed at monitoring
government policies, projects and programmes with a view to assessing
government performance in Lagos State as its own contribution to the promotion
of accountability and good governance. It is also targeted at strengthening
the interface between government and civil society. This is the third in
the series of such efforts by CACOL since the idea was midwived in 2013.
The book “Lagos Open Parliament 3” is a compendium of
the records of CACOL’s findings on the performance of the Lagos State
government under the leadership of Governor Akinwumi Ambode in all sectors of
governance since May 29, 2015; the reports by the nation’s major newspapers on
the activities and programmes of the government as well as the graphic and pictorial
illustrations of such findings. These illustrations lend credence to the
depth of its investigations and the credibility of its research outcomes.
CACOL by its own admission focussed its attention on education, security,
health, road construction/rehabilitation and the administration of law and
order.
The book divided into eight chapters chronicles the
performance of the Akinwumi Ambode-led administration in Lagos State from
inception on May 29, 2015 up till May 28, 2016.
It highlights the positive changes that the
administration has introduced into the different sectors of governance within a
period of 12 months. CACOL in the book’s preface explained that its
report often goes through three stages of exploration, validation and public
presentation. This further underscores the rigorous investigative
procedure adopted by Coalition.
Chapter One of the book highlights the positive
impacts that the Ambode administration has made in the areas of road
construction/rehabilitation, infrastructure upgrade, guarantee of public safety
and security, improvement in transportation, health care delivery, education,
agriculture, housing delivery, etc.
The Chapter outlines in detail the specific roads that
have been rehabilitated especially through its “Operation 114” where each of
the 57 Local governments and LCDAs in Lagos rehabilitated two roads within
its own jurisdiction.
This “Operation”, coupled with another “Operation fix
all roads”, has given a remarkable face-lift to the state of road networks in
Lagos metropolis. Although, it cannot be said that all Lagos roads have
been satisfactorily fixed, sustenance of current efforts will bring about
noticeable transformation to the condition of roads in the state.
Roads such as the one from Mile 12 to Ikorodu,
Ijegun-Isheri Osun-Isolo, Ipakodo to Ijede, Lagos-Badagry and roads within
Apapa Business district, etc have all experienced a major facelift.
This added to the planned construction of a 4th
Mainland bridge as well as several pedestrian bridges gave the Ambode
administration high marks in the area of road
construction/rehabilitation. Other projects like slip roads, lay-bys and
pedestrian bridges now adorn the metropolis as part of what may soon become the
Ambodean legacy.
CACOL further highlighted the infrastructural upgrade
that Lagos State-owned health facilities such as Ayinke house have experienced
resulting in a marked improvement in the health care delivery system of the
State. More mobile intensive care unit ambulances were bought for
State-owned hospitals and more medical and paramedical staff were recruited for
those hospitals.
The government purchased more BRT buses to ease
transportation problems in Lagos while adopting well thought out strategies to
address traffic grid-lock in many parts of the State.
In Education, CACOL documents the infrastructural
changes that have been recorded in many State-owned higher institutions as well
as the rehabilitation of schools, construction of new classrooms, provision of
furniture and employment of over 1,300 teachers. All of these measures
have brought a new lease of life to educational institutions across Lagos
State. Governing Boards of Higher Institutions were promptly constituted
and peace seemed to have returned to these institutions that were hitherto
perennially turbulent.
The achievements in the area of agriculture and
housing are no less significant. Security is one area in which the
Ambode-led administration is believed by CACOL to have scored high marks with
the purchase of more up-to-date equipment for the security agencies to enhance
their mobility and efficiency. In the opinion of CACOL, Lagosians under
the current administration appear a lot safer than they have ever been.
However, it is not yet uhuru for
security in Lagos as the State still experiences cases of kidnap and occasional
robberies. The Badoo’ phenomenon in Ibeshe where women and children are
serially raped or murdered remains a malignant tumour that needs excision.
More will still need to be done for Lagosians to be able to sleep with their
two eyes closed.
Chapter Two reproduces the press Conference
addressed by Comrade Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman of CACOL at the
Exploratory Conference of the Lagos Open Parliament – 3 Project.
The address reiterates the objectives of the LOP
project and summaries some of the achievement of the Ambode administration in
Lagos while expressing objection to some other policies of the government that
it believes will make life more difficult for the already pauperised citizenry
of the State. Such policies believed to be counterproductive include “the
illogical move to enforce a ban on street trading” and the move to tax the poor
and under-employed.
The Executive Chairman further condemned the
appointment of Sole Administrators for Lagos Local Governments and Local
Council Development Areas (LCDAs). He concluded that the action is not
only undemocratic but unconstitutional.
The Chapter also contains the presentations made at
the exploratory conference by Dr. Niran Malaolu and Mr. Awosika (representing
the Lagos State Information Commissioner) Dr. Malaolu identified the lack
of understanding of the concept of change by the nation’s leaders as one of the
factors responsible for Nigerian’s underdevelopment. In his view, there
is a pervasive mistaken notion that change is an event rather than a
process. He called for a restructuring of the country in order to make
the desired change possible since the present structure of the nation is
antithetical to either change or transformation.
He commended Governor Akinwumi Ambode for doing
reasonably well since he mounted the saddle in Lagos State.
Mr. Awosika in his comments restated the positive
contributions that the Ambode-led administration has made in the areas of
healthcare, rule of law, transportation, infrastructural development,
employment and job creation, education, security, food security, tourism and
environment.
He catalogued the creation of new Ministries, the
streamlining in the cost of governance, Operation Light-up Lagos, Lagos rail
project, Lekki Free Trade Zone, adoption of e-governance, establishment of an
employment trust fund (with a target of N25billion), the proposed fourth
mainland bridge and skill acquisition projects as revolutionary
policies/projects that will in no time transform Lagos to a true mega city.
Chapters 3 & 4 contain newspaper reports on the
innovative projects and programmes that the Lagos State government has
implemented within the 12 months that the research covered. These reports
further affirm the veracity and credibility of CACOL’s findings.
It is noteworthy that the reports showed clearly that
the administration in Lagos State is a thinking one, no wonder it is in today’s
Nigeria, the numero uno among all the States of the federation.
It promulgated a “Property Protection Law” to save
property owners from harassment and intimidation by “Omo-oniles” and backed
this up with the establishment of a task force.
The “Operation Clean-up Lagos” is another important
step taken to rid Lagos of abandoned property, unapproved mechanic workshops,
illegal kiosks and roadside beer parlours and other unwholesome environmental
practices that are hazardous to living. The Ambode administration has
also taken steps to intensify the campaign against domestic and sexual violence
in Lagos State.
Chapter Five gives a comprehensive and graphic
analysis of the data gathered by CACOL’s researchers and gives us an insight
into the content and nature of the research survey it carried out in each of
the 20 Local government Areas in Lagos State.
The Chapter also presents numerous pictorial evidences
of the projects initiated and completed by the Ambode-led administration during
the period under review.
Chapter Six contains more newspaper cuttings
where reports about the activities of the Lagos State government were
published. These reports contained in the clips are not significantly different
from those that appeared in Chapters Three and Four. It is my humble
opinion that this repetition is unnecessary and apart from increasing the
volume of the publication, it adds very little value to the content. If
that chapter is deleted, the book would not have lost anything.
The inclusion of the Chapter practically created
printing problems as the press clips within the same chapter got reproduced in
numerous pages for example the contents of pages 210 – 215 were reproduced
after page 222 and re-numbered pages 210 – 215 all over again.
Chapter Seven presents the Press Conference on
the “State of the nation” addressed by CACOL’s executive Chairman, Comrade Debo
Adeniran on June 29, 2016. In the address, he lamented the failure of the
APC-led Federal Government to live up to the promises it made during the
electioneering period in 2015. He criticised the administration for its
tardiness, seeming ineptitude and obvious lack of answers to the nation’s
numerous problems.
I fail to see why the editor included the Press
Conference in a book that is designed to assess the performance of the Lagos
State Government under Mr. Akinwumi Ambode.
The inclusion created its own problems even though the
Chapter included other press releases targeted at policies of the Lagos State
government earlier criticised by CACOL. For instance, portions of the
releases were repeated in some pages within the same chapter. Some of the
contents of pages 252 – 253 were reproduced verbatim on pages 255 – 256.
Chapter Eight details the conclusions and
recommendations that emerged from the LOP3 process. It re-emphasized
CACOL’s earlier findings such as the ban on street trading and imposition of
taxes on the under-employed.
It further recommends a process led budgeting system
that should be more participatory and inclusive, rather than the incremental
envelope system that we are used to.
It called on the State government to allow full
democratisation of governance at the Local government level as any other option
will remain unconstitutional and illegal. CACOL urges government to
address the problem of multiple taxation in the State while also stressing the
need for the State to fully embrace the TSA policy to curb corruption and raise
the State’s revenue profile.
It advised that, Lagos can only became a mega city if
it expedites action on its rail project and improve on its water transportation
system. The book also advocates for a stronger and more robust interface
between the State government and civil society organisations.
The book “Lagos Open Parliament – 3” is a good book
which throws a big challenge to other State governments to subject their
activities to critical scrutiny in conformity with the principles of
transparency and accountability.
I commend CACOL for this bold effort which has
definitely sealed its position as the leading non-governmental anti-corruption
organisation in Nigeria. It takes courage, determination, commitment and
intellectual clarity to be able to painstakingly document and critique a state
government’s performance within the first year of the administration’s tenure,
the way it has done. The book is lucid, readable and aesthetically
appealing.
There are a few errors in the work which I hope will
be corrected in subsequent editions. The pagination is highly inaccurate
and confusing. For example P. 91 comes immediately after P. 82. P. 87
comes after P. 94 while P.95 comes after P. 90. P. 83 comes immediately
after page 78.
This has led to some omissions resulting in merging together
of unrelated information which unless care is taken will lead the readers
confused. The report titled “FCMB, Lagos to boost job Creation” which
started on P. 86 was completed after P. 94.
I thank you for your attention.
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