The sprawling megacity of Lagos, with over 20 million residents, is the cultural and economic heart of Nigeria. For over two decades, the state has embarked on audacious infrastructure renewal projects that are capital intensive. The execution of ongoing projects alone, let alone the challenges of urban sustainability in the context of Lagos make governing the state a herculean task. In this article, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat unfolds the agenda of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration.
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Sanwo-Olu’s development agenda for Lagos
At the outset, the perception of many Lagosians about the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration was not entirely a positive one. Based on the performance of his predecessors in office since 1999, Lagosians were not convinced that he could step onto their shoes.
Given the mountain of work in all sectors in Lagos somehow Governor Sanwo-Olu’s gentle mien did not fit into the mold of a performer in the eyes of some residents.
But, almost one year after, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos has once again proved critics wrong.
Since the inception of the administration, Governor Sanwo-Olu has been working quietly in several sectors; to continue from where his immediate processor in office, Akinwinmi Ambode stopped, and also to initiate new policies to up the ante in the development of Lagos.
Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat recently unfolded some of the blueprints of the administration, sector by sector, in an interview with the editorial team of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
In the education sector, for instance, Dr. Hamzat said the administration has embarked on a policy reform, which is dubbed ‘Eko Excel’, the state is re-engineering its teaching methods and also adopting a holistic approach to tackling challenges in the sector, to bring out the best in the pupils.
He said: “We started with 300 schools. What that means is that all the primary school teachers will have a tablet that allows them to concentrate on teaching so that they do not need to do all the teachers note that needs to be done and schedule of work.
We have trained them in knowing the essence of teaching. Just changing the essence of teaching and even how they talk to the children/address them. Even if a child does something wrong, there are ways of correcting them.
“Around the world, the focus has always been on the provision of equipment for the classrooms and to have a great classroom for learning but those things don’t teach children as it does not mean the children will come out well. You might have a great classroom but it does not make anything.
So over time, what the state government has done is to focus on the teachers as they are the common denominators. It means we must concentrate on the teachers. They are the common denominator.
“After six years the children will go but the teachers remain over and over again. So we realise that the best thing to do is to concentrate on the teachers, their welfare, skills, their training and the way they approach it. That is what Eko Excel is doing.”
The deputy governor said it is too early to assess the impact of the scheme. He added: “In two to three years’ time, we would see how the teaching method has changed. We would see how it has affected the culture of our education, the children and everything.
We would also be able to gather information better through the equipment that will help us to geo-reference. So, we can know, for instance, in class 4A in Agidingbi Primary School, 20 students came to class or 21 children came at 9 am. – so why are they coming to school late? Is it that they are living far from school?
“All this information will help us to plan well. Also, it has helped us in monitoring the time the teachers resume work.
Also, if a teacher is coming late to school, why is it so? For example, a teacher teaching in Ikorodu and living in Oworonshoki, so why can’t we just move the teacher to around the place he or she lives for convenience and good delivery on the job.
“We are also finding out that some schools have only seven children while in some schools they have up to 60. So it tells us that in some cases, maybe we are building in the wrong places.
So, maybe we need to build more classes in such areas because, in some local governments, the number of children in school is extremely small compared to some others.”
Another component of Eko Excel, the deputy governor said, would address malnutrition among school children. He said primary education is the foundation of development and that it is important to fix it.
He said studies show that 52 per cent of children under five years of age in the northern part of the country are malnourished. He said in the south the percentage is about 20.
Hamzat said while it is necessary to build roads, provide amenities and other things that it is equally important to take care of the younger population by addressing malnutrition among children between the ages of zero to five because, as doctors have told us, this is the time the brain develops.
He said: “So we have a committee on nutrition and also a department on nutrition but what is surprising is that study shows that it is not the children of the poor that are mostly malnourished. The children of the rich and middle class can actually be malnourished as well if they are not eating right because as children they like to eat anything.
“If we can reduce that number, it would be a fantastic achievement even though it is not something that people like to talk about but the impact will be good because we would now build children that are healthy and intelligent thereby the future of our country will be secured.”
On the health, he said the Lagos State Government has increased the budget to the sector by almost 70 per cent and are planning to build new hospitals across the state.
He said: “We want to make sure that every part of Lagos is covered in terms of healthcare delivery services. For instance, we are planning to build a General Hospital in Ojo; that axis doesn’t seem to have any at the moment. We are also planning to build a spinal injury hospital somewhere in Gbagada.
We are also getting people to help us design as we have been made to understand that a lot of our General Hospitals needs to be redesigned.
“For example, you go to UCH, Ibadan at night without air conditioner (AC) you feel cold because of the architectural design. It is designed so that air can pass through… that is cross ventilation. We have gotten people that design hospitals for the tropics.”
Hamzat said the government is not just interested in building new structures, but building ones that are easier to maintain and allows for ventilation.
He added: “Part of the challenge in most hospitals is that you go for the treatment of one ailment and later get infected with another thing.
So these are the questions we asked our medical team. We are not medical doctors but we know these things happen. So, we are redesigning our hospitals.”
On the hardship imposed on residents by the ban on commercial motorcycle and tricycle operators, otherwise known as Okada and Keke by the government, Dr. Hamzat said the underlying motive behind the policy is to reduce accidents on the roads and thereby preserve the lives of Lagosians.
He said: “The most important thing for us is that people must be alive before they can do anything. When life is lost, then there is really nothing else. It’s the dead end.
So for us what is important is how do we secure this society? There are details and information that the government sometimes has that you can’t even share with citizens because they won’t be able to sleep if you divulge such information.”
The deputy governor said critics of the policy have been insisting that alternatives ought to have been put in place before the ban came into effect.
He said: “But, I disagree because it will have been too late if we delayed further; if we failed to secure the lives of our children we will be very irresponsible. That is why it was restricted in certain areas where we saw the upsurge.”
On the menace of members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on Lagos roads, the deputy governor said the challenge is that it is a national union recognised by law.
He said like the Association of Academic Union of Universities (ASUU), there are many things that members of the union do that the state government does not support, “but as a union recognised by law in our country, we will keep engaging them in dialogue.”
He said: “Whether we like it or not, they have some roles that they play in the transportation sector because you know what, the transportation sector is not something that private people go into without subsidy from government all over the world.
But they are doing it without such assistance, so we must find a way to make it better for them and for us as a people. The engagement must continue for us to have a peaceful society.”
The deputy governor spoke extensively on the traffic gridlock in Lagos, attributing it, for the most part, to the breakdown of vehicles, which impede the free flow of traffic.
The Lagos number two citizen also attributed the traffic gridlock to ongoing road constructions in various parts of the city. He said: “For instance, at Ojota, we are replacing the whole stretch of Ikorodu Road with concrete. At Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, we are also doing concrete.
The problem is that on that corridor, we are doing 300 metres every day but it takes 14 days to execute it properly.
So, because it takes 14 days, no vehicle can pass within those number days. It means that for a long time, that corridor would continue to experience traffic while the project is ongoing. a challenge about there.
“In fact, it is one of the reasons that we are talking to the company that maybe we should use reinforced bitumen rather than concrete, particularly as the construction work approaches Oworonshoki.”
Alaka, he added, is also experiencing a similar traffic gridlock because of the expansion project also ongoing there, it is a problem.
Because a lot of these things are happening, there will be (gridlock). “But, I think it is better to do it once and in another six or seven months, everybody will be okay,” he added.
Hamzat said the administration is taking advantage of the body of water that surrounds Lagos, by developing water transport. He said 14 boats were recently purchased and are being used to convey people in a most comfortable way.
He urged many residents along the coastal line to take advantage of the waterways to get to their destinations, and thereby reduce pressure on the roads.
His words: “We need the water not just to farm but also for transportation. The Lagos State Government just procured those 14 new boats. The beauty of it is that all those boats were built in Nigeria. Of course, we brought the engine, but we have been able to build that capacity to build boats.”
Hamzat said Lagos deserves a special status because of the nature of the responsibilities it is shouldering within the Nigerian federation. He said the state is pursuing it through a bill on the floor of the Senate initiated by Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
He said: “We are pushing it; maybe we are going about it in a different way. It might not be in the newspapers. It is by talking to everybody that is involved in the process. It is really going on but in a different way. If something is not working in a particular way, you try another approach.”
On the perceived heavy borrowing in Lagos and the debt profile, he said there is no way the government can meet up with the huge infrastructural deficit without borrowing. He said: “There is a musician in Epe in the 1970s; he is dead now.
His name is Ligali Mukaiva; he was not educated, but he said something profound that has stuck to my memory since. I was in primary school then.
The man sang a song that any businessman that doesn’t use other people’s money will not succeed. So, the reality is, where do you get resources to build for today?
“I remember during Asiwaju Tinubu’s government when they took a bond of 15 billion. The opposition said Oh; he has mortgaged the lives of the young people.
That loan has been paid. During BRF government, we took 375 billion bonds, that bond has been paid. Without that, we cannot build the Lekki Link Bridge.”
He said Lagos gets only N8 billion or N9 billion monthly from federal allocation. “By the time you pay salaries, you only have N1 billion left. What can you do with N1 billion? So, the reality is, how do you source the find for infrastructural development?” he said.
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President Bola Tinubu has urged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to work towards achieving 95 per cent National Identity Number (NIN) coverage by December 2026.
The President gave the directive at the State House, Abuja, while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 National Identity Day celebration organised by NIMC.
He acknowledged NIMC’s excellent work so far, noting that National Identity Number (NIN) enrolment peaked at about 142 million, up from over 80 million Nigerians captured in the National Identity Database when he assumed office more than three years ago.
President Tinubu was represented at the event by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. The event had the theme: “Nigeria’s digital public ecosystem: powering Africa’s digital economy.”
It was attended by the representative of Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senator Ibrahim Hadejia; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume; the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, amongst others.
President Tinubu said the target should be pursued through expanded ward-level enrolment, mobile registration initiatives and continued deployment of licensed enrolment networks. Government
The President noted that his administration’s vision goes beyond NIN coverage, stating that Nigeria “must build an identity system that is continuously useful, secure and responsive to the needs of Nigerians.”
“We are laying the foundations for a future of integrated digital services, including e-health records, e-transport systems and a more harmonised national data architecture.
“We must do this while protecting the rights, privacy and dignity of our citizens. The digital state must never become a state without accountability.
“Our commitment must therefore remain clear: innovation must be matched by responsibility. Efficiency must be matched by inclusion, security must be matched by trust. And digital transformation must ultimately improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians,” President Tinubu said.
The President, who commended the Director General of NIMC, Engr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, for a job well done over the past three years, called on Nigerians who have not obtained their NIN to do so, saying their NIN represents their connection to a modern Nigerian state.
Tinubu also applauded this year’s National Identity Day theme as very important, saying “Nigeria’s digital ecosystem must power Nigeria’s digital economy–and Nigeria’s digital economy must help power Africa’s.”
The President further said National Identity remains the engine room for the government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, noting that identity transformation is contributing directly to the government’s priorities.
“The NIMC ecosystem has created opportunities for thousands of Nigerians across the country. With more than 173 private companies, 30 state governments and 14 public sector institutions approved as licensed enrolment agents, the identity ecosystem is generating employment for enrolment officers, data professionals, supervisors, technology specialists and other support personnel. This is a digital infrastructure creating real economic opportunity,” he said. NigeriaNews Subscription
Speaking on the significance of national identity to Nigeria’s national security, President Tinubu said the two are linked, describing the connection as indispensable.
“A secure identity system is indispensable to a secure nation. By strengthening identity verification and enabling responsible information sharing across relevant government institutions, we are improving our capacity to combat identity fraud, financial crimes and other threats to national security.
“The ongoing collaboration among institutions, including the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, demonstrates what is possible when government systems work together,” President Tinubu said. GeographicReference
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji- Ojo, also praised the Director General of NIMC for delivering excellent work with little supervision, saying she has shown appreciable leadership.
He said the President expected more from her and her team, adding that Nigerians need wider, easier, and more convenient access to identity services, including for Nigerians in the diaspora.
“We need more in providing a trusted national public key infrastructure and digital public infrastructure that support secure digital identity, authentication and electronic trust services, more in including a stronger foundation for Nigeria’s digital economy, digital governance and long-term national development,” Tunji-Ojo said. GeographicReference
The Director General of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, in her remarks, commended President Tinubu and the Minister of Interior for their support, saying it has brought about a total transformation of Nigeria’s identity and existence.
She said, “Our reach tells its own story. Enrolments have grown from less than 100 million to over 142 million Nigerians and legal residents. The engine behind that growth is the ward-to-ward Enrolment Project, undertaken directly under Mr President’s initiative. NigeriaNews Subscription
“This project carried our officers into all 8, 8,809 boards of this Federation and mobilised the National Youth Service Corps members as adult enrolment officers in connection with front-end partners in communities that had never before hosted an enrolment desk.
“Alongside it, we launched the Self- Service Notification Platform, which has already processed close to two million record updates, turning a process that once took weeks in two communities into one that takes 24 to 48 hours directly from a citizen’s phone.”
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election and a leading opposition figure ahead of the 2027 presidential election, Peter Obi.
The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress,
The Presidency has reacted to the ongoing dispute between former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, and the state government over the state’s debts and financial liabilities.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a post on X on Wednesday, said Obi had claimed to have left Anambra without debt and challenged him to follow through on his pledge to quit the presidential race if his claim was disproved.
Bayo Onanuga. US
File: Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga wrote, “Peter Obi claimed he left Anambra with a clean slate of debt and even threatened to quit the presidential race if his claims were proven otherwise.”
He added that the Anambra State Government had responded with claims concerning liabilities allegedly left by the former governor’s administration.
“Now, the Anambra government has confronted him with facts and figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuities, and had also borrowed for frivolous things,” Onanuga said.
“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he asked.
Anambra govt disputes Obi’s ₦2.13bn ecological fund claim
The reaction followed a fresh response by the Anambra State Government to Obi’s Tuesday denial of claims that his administration left behind inherited debts, including a ₦2bn ecological fund, contractor liabilities and unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions.
Obi had said his administration cleared more than ₦35bn in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
He also disputed the government’s claim concerning the ecological fund, saying more than ₦2.13bn was left untouched in a First Bank account for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
Soludo
File: Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State
However, in a statement on Wednesday, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, disputed Obi’s account, saying the account he identified was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.
Mefor said the government obtained a certified printout of the account and claimed that “from 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account.”
Obi had challenged anyone who could establish that his account of the state’s finances was incorrect, saying, “If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning.”
President Bola Tinubu has directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to ensure the release of all funds approved for the regional commissions.
Tinubu gave the directive on Monday at the North Central Development Commission Summit, themed “The Great Leap Forward: A 20-Year Economic Infrastructure and Social Development Plan for the North Central Region.”
Akume, who represented the President at the summit, said the creation of regional development commissions was part of the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda to accelerate development across the country.
“Government will continue to give the NCDC and other Regional Development Commissions the political and financial backing to embark on key projects that will unlock the economic and industrial potentials of the nation.
“I therefore direct the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to ensure that all funds accruable to the Commissions are released as and when due,” he said.
The President, however, said the commissions should not rely solely on government funding, urging them to explore public-private partnerships, donor funding and development financing for transformative projects.
He said the commissions were expected to focus on major projects in rail, air transportation, industrialisation, security, investment, human capital development, education and health.
Tinubu also warned the boards and management of the commissions against corruption, marginalisation, politicisation and misuse of government resources.
“Such actions will not be tolerated, and government will not hesitate to sanction anyone found culpable,” he said.
The President said the regional commissions were not established to replace or duplicate the functions of state and local governments or existing federal institutions.
He said the North Central Development Commission should support efforts to address the security challenges in the region, stressing that development could only take place in a stable environment.
Meanwhile, the Nasarawa State Governor and Chairman of the North Central Governors’ Forum, Abdullahi Sule, said the region possessed the human and natural resources needed to drive economic development.
Sule said the region had demonstrated its capacity in agriculture, mining and industrial production, stressing the need to move from the extraction of raw materials to processing and value addition.
“When you are mining in North Central, you must also process in North Central,” the governor said.
He cited the establishment of a cement factory in Kogi State as an example of how local processing could transform Nigeria’s economy.
The governor said Nasarawa State, which had more than 400 steel licences when he assumed office in 2019, previously had no processing plant despite its mineral resources.
He said the state had since become home to the country’s largest and second-largest lithium processing plants.
“The North Central is the home of Benue cement. The North Central is the home of rice production. The North Central is the home of sesame production. So we have it all. Whatever it is that we are looking for, we have it,” Sule said.
He said what the region needed was leadership capable of developing and implementing long-term plans.
“What do we need more? We need thinkers. We need implementers. We need people who understand what it means to lead,” he said.
Sule also commended the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms, saying the policies had increased revenues available to the federal, state and local governments.
“Today, we are paying salaries without borrowing money from the bank. Even if you hate him, you cannot hate his policies. Even if you disagree with him, you cannot disagree with his policies. And that is the only way we can build,” he said.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of the North Central Development Commission, Cyril Tsenyil said the commission’s role was to coordinate regional development and mobilise resources and partnerships rather than replace the six state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the commission’s 20-year plan would focus on developing regional economic corridors, processing agricultural and mineral resources, improving infrastructure and creating opportunities for young people.
He said the region should aspire to become one of Africa’s most competitive agricultural regions rather than merely being known as Nigeria’s agricultural hub.
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