“Master, Master, I’ve done what Napoleon could not do! I’ve just turned back the Duke of Wellington!”
Nostalgia! Older Nigerians will remember this outburst in a story from the Oxford English Reader, Book 5.
Lagos is a long
shot away from the cognomen, ‘Centre of Excellence’, which remains an
achievable dream, though. A fresh visitor to Lagos, any JJC – like the
BBC camera crew that made that uncomplimentary documentary film – might
be wondering what the boast over the city’s claims to excellence is all
about. But if we consider baselines, or points and conditions upon which
a project commences, then the achievements around the environment in
Lagos are remarkable.
I wish there were
prizes for the ‘most improved’ and the ‘most determined city in the
world’, and Lagos would be competing seriously. I look at what it was
and what it is now, and can’t help but shrug with a measure of
admiration. Millions in Lagos perhaps feel the same way and promptly
turned perception of their city’s status into votes last month. The
moral lesson? People anywhere in the world see their surroundings as the
vital driver of their lives. That is what the other state governors in
Nigeria are lethargic in comprehending.
If Raji Fashola and
the ACN won their landslide victories in Lagos State for a number of
reasons, one of them must have been ecological. Results of elections in
Lagos signal a victory for environmental consciousness and justice, and
remain a recognisable testimony of the civilised pedestal to which both
elected and electorate have graduated. Many of us also view this
development of issue-oriented voting under scrutiny of past performance
as positive, where the nationwide elections have been poisoned with
primordial tribal and religious instincts.
There is no
Lagosian, indigenous or alien, I have had a conversation with in the
last four years that has not drifted into a pensive, “Come and see what
they’re doing in Lagos! In fact, this our governor is trying!” Friends
visit from Lagos and are shocked at the filth on Abuja’s streets,
laughing, and then commenting with pride and audacity: “You can’t do
that in Lagos!” A man in a Lagos suburb swore to vote Fashola, even
though he was unhappy that a city environmental task force destroyed his
business shed. He lost everything, there being no compensation in
Nigeria when the state resorts to vandalism.
What is noticeable
about Lagos and of importance to Nigerians is the political will and
exemplary intent to create decent conditions for people to exist in, as a
developmental priority. Where Nigeria is lagging far behind in the
Millennium Development Goals, particularly in MDG Number 7 on
environmental sustainability, Lagos has made unbelievable sectorial
strides.
Ecologists will
tell you that anyone able to manage the environment can manage people,
and Lagos is a relevant case study. We all want to change the world, but
the global revolution must start at home. That is what the voters in
Lagos have rewarded. It makes me wonder why Osama bin Laden and
Mutallab, two scions of wealthy families, chose to bomb the US instead
of changing the feudal societies they originated from.
The unassuming Fashola and his flamboyant predecessor, Bola Tinubu,
have done what the military governors of Lagos could not do. But then,
dictatorships have never created decent environments anywhere in the
world.
