In a society where there is a lot of PHDS (pull him down syndrome), it is difficult for an ordinary man to leave a legacy while at the corridors of power.
Apart from the PHDS, there are just too many distractions and therefore it takes an uncommon man to make headway in the cacophony that is not just noise but a lot of other encumbrances.
One such man is the immediate past Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, who celebrates his birthday today. His speeches during his eight years at the helm of affairs in the state of aquatic splendour have been compiled in the book aptly titled, The Great Leap: Speeches By Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN. Compiled by Hakeem Bello, who worked as Fashola’s special assistant and later special adviser on media, and was with him when he started campaign for the Lagos number one office, it is succinct as it is enlightening.
Published under the Q Books imprint of Quramo Publishing Limited, the 300-page book may be a collection of speeches, but is also a seminal work worth the time spent to put it together. The content is a clear indication of the beauty of the mind that made those speeches in the last eight years. Indeed, immediately after the title page of the well-produced book, there are seven pages that give an indication of the work that the former governor personally put in on his speeches, often making additions and corrections up to the time of presenting them.
The book itself is a poignant articulation of the policies of government and a rich archive for anyone who would like to have a glimpse into how the machinery of government under Fashola was oiled to work seamlessly.
The first part, for instance, takes the reader into the background of the former governor, titled ‘A Governor, His Story’. It comprises a speech delivered at the third edition of ‘Project What Next?’ to the 2011/2012 MBA students of the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Ajah on February 10, 2012. After drawing parallels from the story of his life and the task ahead, Fashola had declared close to the end of the speech that “the Lagos I dream of lies ahead, but my optimism that it is achievable is fuelled by my life story”. And the one lesson he had urged the class to take away, even if they failed to take away anything that day, is that ‘Nothing is Impossible’.
Anyone who reads the speeches in The Great Leap will agree that if there is one lesson the former governor has learned from life, it is that nothing is impossible. It must be the reason he was willing to try, and indeed tried, things that had never been done before in the state, while he was in office. One of such is the first ever controlled demolition of the Bank of Industry (BOI) building in the West African region that took place during his administration. In fact, that epoch-making event has given rise to a book that details what took place titled, The Lagos Blow Down.
This quote from his inauguration speech found in the second part of the book titled ‘Inauguration’ directed at Lagosians of all faiths states: “Let us discharge our duties to the state with hope and good cheer. Let us promote that which is good and denounce that which is bad.” It is now clear for everyone to see that Fashola did not only make that speech, he rolled up his sleeves to discharge his duties to the state with hope and good cheer. Not only that, he actually promoted that which is good and denounced that which is bad. This is the theme that can be gleaned from the speeches selected and published in this 10-part book.
Part three to 10 of the book is like the first two parts, except that one gets a sense of urgency that comes from the words of a man who has started work and knows time is not on his side. It begins with Setting Agenda, which has the most speeches, 11 in all; then there is Executing Programmes, Eyes to the Future and Women, Gender. The remaining four are: Lagos as a Mega City, Milestones, Cultural Festivals and View Point.
Hakeem Bello, in the introduction while talking about the purpose for putting the book together, succeeds in documenting the reforms Fashola has pursued and recording some of his achievements as governor. But he does much more than that; he provides for posterity a document that not only researchers can work with, but generations to come, whether in or out of government, can learn from.
