The Lagos State Government has taken note of an article in
the latest edition of The Economist
magazine entitled “Paralysed: Why Nigeria’s largest city is even less navigable
than usual” and has considered a rebuttal necessary, in view of the bile and
bias contained in it.
The said article has since gained frenetic, orchestrated
spread in both social and traditional media in Nigeria, helped in part,
ostensibly, by a push from a recalcitrant legion of traducers still struggling
with the reality of a new helmsman whose idea of progress in Lagos State
factors in electoral promises and respect for human dignity.
If we excuse the fact that the offensive article in The Economist came out last weekend just
about the time that Lagos State Government has added some bite to its security
and traffic management efforts, what shall we call the curious ‘culling’ of the
said article by some local media? For only last Friday, the media had widely reported
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s comprehensive enforcement effort on traffic
management, which in a matter of days has already started yielding positive
results and wooing converts to the Ambode cause.
Is it not painfully obvious that fifth columnists have
hijacked this one-sided reportage in The
Economist that failed to take into account the bigger picture of an
emerging reform policy, designed to address the larger concerns in the
management of security, traffic and the environment? If we were to conclude
hastily, like the article did, we would have described the magazine’s effort in
the same words it once famously used as “an unpleasant nose-to-stranger’s-armpit
experience.”
But we won’t necessarily query the original motive by asking
“what is it about foreign correspondents that makes them believe they are the
ultimate authority” on a city they have only covered for a few years, as
India’s Swarajya magazine did last
year in taking The Economist to the
cleaners when it ran a harsh report on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
appearance at Madison Square Garden in the United States.
However, because the magazine got its report on Lagos wrong
on every score, what is important is to deconstruct the fallacies therein:
Firstly, The Economist
claimed Governor Ambode cut the powers of “traffic controllers by banning them
from impounding cars” and “officers have refused to enforce the rules.” This is
inaccurate and preposterous.
In July, what the Governor did was to task the officers of
the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) to release to the owners
hoards of impounded vehicles that had clogged LASTMA offices for several months
or years without claims or retrievals. What’s the use of turning a government
agency into a junkyard thereby blocking space for other offending vehicles that
could be taken in?
The Governor also enjoined them to choose booking offenders through
a ticketing system backed by the same type of technology used in licensing and
tracking vehicles instead of impounding the vehicles as first option. If
technology could work for vehicle licencing and tracking, why should we be
timid of exploring a similarly convenient option that saves time and money and
shows a more people-friendly approach to law enforcement?
Both considerations, of course, arose out of the campaign
promises that the governor made to voters. But to The Economist, this is inadequate and anything that falls short of a
show of force and dehumanizing traffic offenders is unacceptable to this
international magazine that used to stoutly stand for human rights and civic
engagements.
That The Economist
sees nothing wrong in recalcitrant officers refusing to carry out a directive
by their employer is as surprising as it is shameful. Shockingly still, the
veil finally came off this curious article when it states that by choosing a
compassionate approach to enforcement, Governor Ambode is less competent and
has deviated from his predecessor’s template. But what legacy has The Economist
bequeathed to former Governor Babatunde Fashola? “Cars were terrified into
order by a state traffic agency, LASTMA, whose bribe-hungry officers flagged
down offending drivers.”
This is clearly an uncharitable summation of traffic management
under the last administration. It is disrespectful, even more condescending to
the officers of LASTMA and to Lagosians in general for whom the magazine
purports to be fighting. In any case, if
indeed some officers were corrupt in LASTMA, by The Economist’s damning
verdict, should Governor Ambode continue to maintain such a tainted template?
Is this the magazine’s idea of the end justifies the means or it is negligible
because this is Africa?
Secondly, the magazine dismissed as mere excuses Governor
Ambode’s explanations that the rains and the unprecedented influx of ‘internal
economic migrants’ and escaped insurgents from the North-East were major
causative agents of worsened gridlock and a slight rise in crime in traffic
within the metropolis. It is curious how
a magazine of this stature would ignore weighty intelligence reports from both
the Assistant Inspector General of Police of the Zone 2 Command and the Lagos
State Police Commissioner.
While the latter said at a press conference last month that as
military intervention intensifies in the beleaguered North-East of Nigeria,
insurgents are escaping and finding their ways into Lagos and a few other
states, the latter said Lagos has witnessed an unprecedented influx of
‘migrants’ from other states in the last six months as harsh economic realities
in the country bite harder, leaving 27 states struggling with payments of
workers’ salaries.
In a May 3, 2014 article, The
Economist in ‘The Tube Strike’ publication had no qualms linking incessant
tube strikes with disruptions in traffic situation in London, it even examined
it along the larger socio-economic reality of the city. The magazine agreed
that “in the past decade, passenger journeys have risen by 29%. As jobs became
concentrated in central London, more people are traveling from outer
suburbia…and that between 2003 and 2012 the average number of people entering
the underground system in zone one – the most central – on a weekday morning
rose by 23%, while the number entering in zone six rose by 41%.”
But it refuses to accept that as the economies in many
Nigerian states face sustainability challenge, the first point of call for
internal migrants is Lagos where civil servants’ salaries are not owed; the
Internally Generated Revenue is larger than those of 31 states in Nigeria combined
and the Gross Domestic Product is larger than those of 42 African countries
combined.
Changes in demography could necessitate incessant strikes in
London without The Economist recommending a “terrified into
order” treatment that the magazine celebrates as the only language of
enforcement in Lagos.
Is the magazine advocating different standards for treating
people in London and Lagos? If it is called traffic management in London, why
is The Economist advocating a
show-of-force treatment for Lagosians?
Also, it alleges that “the biggest concern is that the
gridlock is a sign of a breakdown in relations between security forces,
government agencies and the new governor.” Not only is this assertion unprofessional,
it is equally reckless and slanderous.
The bile in this is unmistakable.
But it came a tad late as the Governor has since rolled out
an effective, comprehensive security and traffic management solutions with the
active participation of every security stakeholder like the Police, the
Directorate of State Services (DSS), Army, Navy and Air Force.
On this solution that has since rolled out against every form
of impunity on the roads, critical stakeholders like tank farm owners, and
association of trailer, commercial motorcycles, tricycles, taxi and commercial
bus owners have all pledged compliance to this method that favoured
consultation and advocacy over force. Lagosians have since seen the difference
and are full of commendation that the Governor they elected will get the job
done without being a brute or playing to the gallery.
For the avoidance of doubt, the monthly Security Council
Meeting, which has the leadership of every security agencies in attendance, has
never failed to hold since Governor Ambode became governor five months ago. The
Security Trust Fund under him is well embraced by the corporate partners. The
Governor certainly has a most cordial relationship with all the security forces
in the state and is in firm control of all of its enforcement agencies.
President Muhammadu Buhari won the April Presidential
election in Nigeria in spite of The
Economist’s reluctant, tongue-in-cheek endorsement of his candidacy. We are
also aware of how Boris Johnson, the Conservative London Mayor, won his
reelection in 2012 in spite of The
Economist’s campaign that ‘London deserved better’ and the virulent
accusation of the Mayor for dealing a blow on what the magazine called “London
heritage and individual liberty” after Johnson decided to do away with some of
his predecesor’s mass transit and traffic policies.
Perhaps, it is high time that this vaunted magazine learnt to
restrict itself to strict journalism rather than seeking to impose jaded views
in a volatile political climate where, we dare say, the gluttonous lot can
choke on their own bile, almost hoping that the elections leading to the
emergence of the governor could be held over again.
Governor Ambode won a hard contest, at the polls and at the
tribunal…up to the Supreme Court. He enjoys the full backing of his party, the
All Progressives Congress (APC) and majority of Lagosians who see in him a
compassionate leader and competent manager of resources.
He has demonstrated his mettle by first getting the finances
of the state back in shape, restructuring a choking debt exposure from 18%
interest rate to 12.5%, thereby freeing N3bn every month for the state to put
into other pressing use. He has paid out N11bn in pensions to those neglected
since 2010; signed 2.500 C of Os; constituted a forward-looking cabinet that
has hit the ground running; fixed more than 200 roads across the state in what
he calls Operation Zero Tolerance for Pot Holes and has flagged off a
remarkable initiative with Local Governments that will have 114 roads (two per
each of the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas)
constructed with standard drainages, walk-ways and street lights.
This Thursday November 12, he is declaring open the BRT
corridor that links Mile 12 to Ikorodu, which in itself is preparatory to the
launch later this month of an ambitious roll-out of 450 new set of mass transit
buses and a dedicated special BRT service that will be direct from Ikorodu to
Victoria Island. He is lighting up the entire metropolis in a matter of weeks
and is finalizing on a major waterways expansion project. All these and more at
a time that he is fortifying the security apparatus with a set of brand new
patrol vehicles and power bikes as well as three helicopters to assist in
surveillance.
Governor Ambode’s great plans for Lagosians are not in doubt
and are already being unfolded. He will get on with it while insisting that
like Londoners, Lagosians too deserve good things of life…with some respect!
COMMISSIONER FOR INFORMATION AND STRATEGY
LAGOS STATE
NOVEMBER 11, 2015
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