Jakande Told Me Nigeria Can Be Fixed In Six Months

By Steve Osuji

Existential Issues Are Non-issues: As an Assistant Editor in The African Guardian in 1994, I was working on a cover story on the state of the nation. I had put a call across to former Lagos State governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande (LKJ) for his perspectives on some of the issues of the day.

The pre-eminent statesman (bless his soul) left me with a nugget I still hold dear, more than 30 years after that interview.

He said, Steve, all these seemingly impossible and intractable problems we are grappling with in Nigeria can be fixed in just six months by good leadership and sound governance.

He said further that, because we haven’t had good leaders in a long while, that’s why we seem to be bedeviled by these mere existential issues that can easily be fixed with dedicated governance and good sense.

I have refrained from quoting Baba LKJ directly because I don’t have his exact words anymore but these are essentially his thoughts that have remained with me over these decades and which I have chewed over and over for so long.

Let me confess upfront that I had a special love for LKJ who we fondly called Baba Kekere. And even when he misstepped by serving the Sani Abacha junta, it didn’t diminish my admiration for him.

LIKE LKJ, LIKE PETER OBI: LKJ was speaking from a place of knowledge and hands-on experience. It took him four years as the first civilian governor of Lagos State (1979 to 1983) to transform and impact Lagos in a manner no other governor has done since after him.

Only Babatunde Fashola (2007 – 2015) came close to imbuing such a ramifying impact on the sprawling city state but he had all of eight years to work.

This piece, of course, stems from the uproar that rented the air last week following Peter Obi’s wager that he would need only four years if elected president of Nigeria.

Many Nigerians, especially from the opposition corner (please note that the ruling APC has unwittingly become an opposition party to Peter Obi) went berserk, rolling out against Peter, their well-oiled arsenal of calumny manned by a half-educated horde.

They are calling him an  opportunistic trader who thinks governance is buying and selling! But many of them have become dyed-in-the-wool acolytes of corrupt old guard  politicians. They are so ingrained in Nigeria’s noxious old ways that they don’t know the difference between good and bad. They only know what works for their personal interest.

THE LKJ MAGIC: While, LKJ didn’t expatiate much during our telephone conversation, he mentioned such traits as leadership by personal example, putting the right people in the right positions, getting priorities right, fortifying state institutions and cranking systems to function optimally.

You may add prudent management of resources and political will to drive change.

LKJ was speaking from a very deep place. Those who saw him at work as Lagos State governor can corroborate his assertions. Known as the ‘Action Governor’,  Jakande was like a reconstructive whirlwind raging through every corner of Lagos.

No street was left un-tarred. Let’s repeat that for the avoidance of doubt: NO STREET IN LAGOS WAS LEFT UN-TARRED by LKJ!

Of course, he created an additional 23 LGAs, not to siphon funds as we have seen since 1999, but to get governance to the grassroots. And every grassroot was touched by Jakande – again, that’s not a metaphor, it happened in Lagos.

As already stated, Jakande’s legacy in Lagos in just four years remains unmatched till today. Imagine 13 massive low-income housing estates spread across Lagos! We haven’t seen such a quantum of houses since after LKJ.

To make sure every child was compulsorily in school, he created morning and afternoon school sessions first, then went ahead to build ‘rapid response’ classrooms  never seen before and never seen again since his time.

He annexed private and faith-based secondary schools, so every child of primary and secondary school age was in school – for free.

And it didn’t matter if you were Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba. He himself was an indigene of Omu-Aran, Kwara State. He actually reassured all residents during his inauguration that Lagos was home for all!

He built the Lagos State University (LASU).

This singular article cannot contain LKJ’s legacy earned  in only four years as governor of Lagos State.

TWEAK THE SYSTEM AND THINGS WILL FALL IN PLACE: The Jakande mindset is what Obi has been preaching for some years but the old guard and their digital media army would rather shut him down.

Obi says corruption is mitigated by 50 percent if the president (head) and his family don’t have their hands in the public till. If your leader is not stealing you would think twice before you stole.

What we have seen since 1999 till date is a bazaar of Presidents, wives and their children looting the treasury like pirates!

Obi said he will appoint only the best minds from across the country. Merit, inclusion, and people of integrity to run the country.

Today we see people who have looted in their states, who are under EFCC investigations, yet they are appointed into the federal cabinet as ministers.

Yet we wonder why the country isn’t working. It can never work!

Obi is saying he will set priorities. For him, electricity is priority, agriculture and manufacturing productions are priorities; education and health are priorities… in that order.

LET’S DISCUSS PRODUCTION: since President Tinubu took office about two years ago, we have had at least six cycles of natural, rain-fed maize production.

Yet Nigeria still imports maize and grain-based animal feeds. Our poultry and fish production still suffer from inadequate maize meals. Growing maize and other grains to consolidate our agriculture value chains can’t be rocket science.

In one year, under a thinking leader and with our priorities right, Nigeria can move from a maize importer to an exporter. It’s the same for cooking oils (which we still import), cassava products, milk, rice, etc.

This is what Obi means by production. None of this is rocket science, it’s just about priorities, political will and doing the requisite work.

FINALLY: So those who think four years is too short a time to turnaround a country’s fortunes should take a look at what the Argentine President Javier Milei achieved in less than two years.

The bottom line is that a president who can’t make an impact in four years may never be able to do so in 80 years!

Osuji was editor and columnist in major Nigerian newspapers.

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