President Muhammadu Buhari was in Lagos on Wednesday on a one-day working visit. Essentially, he came to commission a few of the many projects of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. Projects commissioned included the multi-carriage way International Airport Road; the multi-level Oshodi Transport Interchange; the 170-bed Ayinke House (Maternity Hospital)) at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH ) Ikeja; and the Lagos State Theatre at Oregun. It is a potpourri of projects connecting the dots from transportation to hospitality to healthcare. The transport menu comes with 820 mass transit buses.
For those versed with the culture and dynamics of Lagos, having a theatre in every neighbourhood (there are five of such theatres scattered across the state) is a fitting creamer to what the state represents. Lagos is a hub for tourism, a repository of deep culture and awesome art. In the last three years the state has opened new frontiers in hospitality. And with increasing yearnings for cinemas and allied entertainment from Lagosians, the new theatres come handy. They will provide platforms for the nation’s zesty and feisty youths to unleash their creative capacities. These theatres simply answer the question of ‘where’ both for content developers, artists, sponsors and the fun cum knowledge seeking publics.
The 170-bed technology-fitted Ayinke House maternity (upgraded from 80-bed) speaks to maternity worries often associated with child-delivery in the country. The deployment of technology to drive maternal care at all stages advertises Ambode as a thinking governor with grand modern ideas and ideals. Parents who have had to go through the ordeal and pain of ‘no bed, no space’ in public hospitals even for women in the throes of labour pang would appreciate this gesture. At child birth a woman bears up to 57 Del (units) of pain. Scientists say this is comparable to 20 bones getting fractured at the same time. Compare that to the 45 del threshold which the human body under normal circumstance could bear, according to science. During child-birth, a woman’s body is subjected to extreme pain far beyond the normal tolerance level for humans. Respect all mothers, please. And this is why the Ambode effort deserves more than mere attention. It is a worthy cause. Mothers deserve comfort and pamper especially at childbirth. Ambode wins my heart here.
But by far, the most edifying of these projects is the multi-lane airport road which also feeds into the multi-level transport interchange. Is it not a national shame that a country with the largest economy in Africa does not have a good road in-and-out of its international airport in its busiest city and most throbbing commercial hub? Is it not a national embarrassment that previous governments, at all levels, played politics with a major road like the airport road?
I write from experience. This road has been my route for many decades. Historically, it used to be a jungle; a magnificent expression of the beauty of tropical Africa rain forest. The road is the boundary between Ajao Estate and its less illustrious neighbourhood, Mafoluku. A couple of years back while gathering materials for my local church magazine I had an interview with High Chief Shekoni Awoniyi Elemo, the Baale of Ajao Estate. He said what is today called Ajao Estate used to be a thick forest until a certain Mr. Ajao from Awe in Oyo State landed there and opened a pharmacy. He joined the original settler of the land known as Elemo who had only one child called Asalu. Asalu himself had four children: namely Orisajeko Asalu Elemo (the first), Awoniyi, Adejomilu and Opebuyi. The transformation of this jungle started with Ajao hence it was called Ajao Estate.
Ajao also established a saw mill here and later took his entrepreneurial expertise to other parts of Lagos and till this day we have Ajao Estate in Anthony, Surulere and at Mushin called Papa Ajao, all named after him.
Ever since, airport road and adjoining communities had undergone various phases of transformation but they were largely efforts by individuals and a few commercial entities that later set up shop in what used to be the heart of darkness. But never in history has this part of Lagos experienced the magnitude of government project wrought by Ambode. The airport road in its old state was a way-station to the grave. Riddled with craters and narrowed by non-adherence to basic development plan by developers, it was unlit and therefore always dark. That made it unsafe at any speed and grotesquely demeaning for the nation’s busiest international gateway. Airport road was a sordid mess. A notorious poster child for our legendary national disorderliness. In their 16 years in power, the governments of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan looked away while the road degraded from ruin to debris and decay.
The airport road has been a source of discomfort to Nigerians. It was before now a hell-way of gridlock with attendant assortment of crimes. People have missed their flights countless times. It was a case of who will bell the vicious cat. One man has just done that. Ambode has become our child of consolation especially for those of us who are frequent users of this road.
The International Airport Road has always needed a hero and Ambode has stepped forth. He has added this monument to his portfolio of accomplishments without, as he said, borrowing a dime to add to the heavy debt overhang of the state. If Buhari and Ambode gloat over this, we must never begrudge them. And why not, they should.
An obviously elated Buhari while commissioning the road said Ambode’s projects perfectly align with the efforts of his government to improve the country’s infrastructure especially in the transport sector.
And to compliment the Oshodi transport Interchange, President Buhari said his government has recently approved the reconstruction of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway up to Oworonshoki and Old-Toll gate, a major transport artery which was last attended to 40 years ago. There seems to be a synergy of infrastructure development between Buhari and Ambode. Both men do not play politics with matters of infrastructural development.
Those who play politics with anything and everything and have become blinded to the development landmarks that signpost the Ambode government should hear the verdict of President Buhari.
He said: “Akinwunmi Ambode has performed satisfactorily and we should all commend him for his contributions to the growth and development of Lagos State.”
Former US President Ronald Reagan once said: “You cannot quarrel with success”. Ambode’s four years in office has been a roller-coaster of success, fiscal prudence and development milestones. Those who think otherwise are agents of toxic politics. Ambode himself is a victim of such noxious politics, a brand of politics that easily seeks to sacrifice development on the tainted altar of political correctness and patronage. Away with such. Every age has a hero. Ambode is one of the heroes of the 2015-2019 class of leaders in Nigeria. He is a success. And truly, you cannot quarrel with success. It stares right at you with magisterial grandeur just like the Oshodi transport Interchange and the richly asphalted airport road.