Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor, and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has a reputation for good governance, and he currently holds a political weight no one else has in Nigeria.
Irrespective of divergent views and political differences, no one can argue that Tinubu is the brain behind the Lagos we now have. Not only that, he has unequalled strategic capabilities and leadership qualities Nigeria has always needed. Judging from a few factors, he may trump all past and current leaders in performance if he comes to power.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo noted some of these in a lecture he delivered in Lagos recently, where he affirmed that Tinubu understands how to maximise human capital, particularly without ethnic, religious and other sentiments.
“It is clear that when we create spaces for migratory talents to flourish without discrimination, there is an economic multiplier that results in an ever-increasing radius of growth,” he said.
Perhaps there is a little more to the prosperity of Lagos. If you look for example, even in contemporary times, the conscious decision of Bola Tinubu, then governor of Lagos State, to appoint commissioners from everywhere in Nigeria, in my view, is partly responsible for the peerless progress that Lagos State has made over the years from 1999.
“In 1999, he appointed Mr Wale Edun from Ogun State as Commissioner for Finance; Rauf Aregbesola from Osun State as Commissioner for Works; Fola Arthur- Worrey from Delta State as Commissioner for Lands; Ben Akhabueze from Anambra State as Commissioner for Budget and Planning; Lai Mohammed, who was then Chief of Staff, from Kwara State; and I, from Ogun State, as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
“Of course, he was opposed by Lagos indigenes, who felt that by virtue of indigeneship, they were qualified to be commissioners and should be appointed and the argument is always valid that ‘why should anybody come from their own state and be commissioner in our own state?’
“But during that period because the then-governor sought for the best talents that he could find, he didn’t restrict the search to the indigenes of Lagos State, Lagos undertook fiscal, judicial and environmental reforms that have made the state a model for the rest of the country.
“If you look at what has happened, even just looking at fiscal reform alone, today, Lagos State’s IGR is greater than the combined total of 31 states of Nigeria.
“How did that happen? A fiscal reform took place because Tinubu took the best minds that he could find. If that best mind was in Anambra State, Tinubu took it.”