Fasola advocates consensus on best practices

Babatunde Fashola- Governor, Lagos State and his deputy.

Fasola advocates consensus on best practices
Qasim Akinreti, Lagos

As he begins his second term in office, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has canvassed a resolve by the people to become champions of a consensus of best practices as a means to achieve prosperity, economic growth and global competitiveness in the State.

Governor Fashola, who spoke at the Eko Hotels and Suites, venue of his Inaugural Dinner and Ball, said the only viable means through which the State could prosper and develop its economy as well as continue to compete on the global stage was by reaching a consensus to become champions of best practices.

He told the capacity audience of crème de la crème of the Lagos Society and the international community that good governance and best practices seen in other countries, which nations seek to emulate were not achieved by accident but by an agreement between the leaders and the led. 

Achieving consensus

Governor Fashola said that to achieve consensus in the areas of good governance in Lagos, everyone must change his or her attitude to time and realize that it is a resource that must be judiciously and efficiently utilized because when the opportunity is gone, it is irrecoverable.

He said: “as a government, we intend to take the lead by organizing ourselves better, scheduling appointments, and doing our best to keep to time in order to give you the most optimum service that is possible during the mandate of four years which approximates to just 35,000 hours”.

 To ‘Lagosians,’ he said, “We expect that you will give us your co-operation at all times and be graceful enough to understand and appreciate the need for us to do what we do. The consensus will come by all of us taking ownership of all public assets like roads, drainages, street lights, traffic lights, traffic signs”.

Citing the example of the 2011 General Elections, Governor Fashola noted that the free, fair and as well credible nature of the exercise in Lagos were not achieved by accident but by the consensus of the people, especially the elite, to ensure that  the votes counted.

According to the Governor, “the swearing in ceremony completed the full cycle of the electoral process for the office of Governor of Lagos; because to my knowledge, no petition was filed to challenge the results of this election.

“Let us, therefore, remind ourselves that we did not get here by accident. We got here by a consensus which was forged after the flawed election of 2007,” he said.

He acknowledged that even if Nigeria has not achieved the perfect election, if such a thing exists, it was certainly not debatable that the country has moved away progressively from where it was in 2007; in terms of electoral process. He stated that the process could only get better if Nigeria maintains that consensus in subsequent elections.

 Williams