Speeches

Seminar, ‘Leading For Social Value’ For Executive Council Members

Apr 9, 2008 - I feel great to welcome participants to this seminar on ‘leading for social values’ designed to acquaint executive council members of the state with tools and ideas to re-energize them for the great work to make Lagos the true Mega-City of the 21st Century.

You will recall that on the day we marked our 300 days in office, when we rendered an account of our stewardship to the electorate, I promised that government will continue to organize and implement capacity-building programmes that will ensure the welfare and development of staff. This will be done through training and retraining programmes, which we will provide on a continuous basis. This is the first in the series of such programmes to come. More will follow soon.

Fifty (50) days to come, we will be celebrating our anniversary in office, an occasion that will not only witness a fuller rendition of our stewardship to the good people of Lagos State for the past twelve (12) months but also one for stocktaking and refocusing for the great task ahead. You as the policy makers and executors constitute the first eleven of the great and committed team of the collective administration of the state charged with the responsibility to bring dividends of democracy to our people, made up of diverse ethnic groups, religions and party affiliations. This is a position of leadership requiring rigorous analysis, innovative adaptability and creative imagination in the planning and execution of programmes and policies of the government.

It is in this light that I urge you to treat this seminar with all the seriousness that it deserves. The past 315 days in office has been a training ground for us in the art of administering the most populous state in the country, the most complex and diverse in commercial and social terms and the most tasking in human management.

We have made definite, giant strides in virtually all the areas of our charge. We have provided quality education, adequate security, and basic social and economic infrastructure and more importantly we have given our people a sense of belonging, we have involved all stakeholders in building the Lagos of our collective dream. But we must not lose sight of our goal.

On assumption of office last May, we made promises to the citizenry for a better, rewarding future and as true democrats we have to run an open and transparent administration based on the rule of law and popular participation.

This means we have to provide service to our people. This we have been doing and doing well. But we need to sustain the tempo. A leader is a service provider, a servant. The status of Lagos as the commercial nerve-center of the country, the economic gateway to the West African sub-region and the sixth Mega –City of the world is a blessing but it also comes with a responsibility that is laden with heavy demands. The Millennium Development Goals of the Federal Government and its vision to be among the 20 most developed economies by 2020 may suffer if Lagos which controls 60 per cent of the country’s non-oil economy fails. This would certainly be bad news also for the sub-region.

The task of making Lagos work more efficiently for its residents and for the country is the destiny which God in His infinite mercy has bestowed on those of us in the current administration of the State. We must fulfill it. It is not a cause for us to betray.

In the past eight good rewarding years, our people have been fed with first class leadership by the visionary and astute leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We who are the heirs of this glorious legacy must keep the flag flying by continuing to provide superior social value to our people.

The Lagos of our dream is not just an economic destination for Africa but a world class city with identical but culturally mediated social and economic values as found in New York in the United States, Bombay in India, Singapore City in Singapore, Tokyo in Japan, London in the United Kingdom and Paris in France.

Administering such a city certainly calls for policy makers with a broad horizon that enables them to think globally and act locally. It means identifying and adapting similar criteria for assessment, imitating some activities, and utilizing tools and ideas targeted at achieving similar goals such that if we were to function in any of the cities mentioned above we would be equally as effective. This calls for a certain orientation of mind and a way of thinking that is dynamic and strategic.

Let me challenge your mind by asking you to reflect on your leadership so far. We need to always remind ourselves if we are adding value to this government. We need to ask ourselves, what kind of service are we rendering to the people whose mandate we are holding in trust. Leadership in this instance is a journey, not the destination and we need to carry the people along.

This one-day seminar holding in this relaxing and quiet ambience is designed to take participants through the gamut of public administration with such topics as leadership, motivation, decision-making, delegation, and problem solving and performance management. One of the advantages of attending seminars is to relearn what we already know so that we can enhance our managerial and administrative capacity in our respective professions, occupations and any other areas of assignment. I am convinced that the management of Ashford and McGuire Consulting, organizers of this seminar can make the desired impact and add value to our portfolio in our individual and public capacities.

I thank you for listening and God Bless you.

“Eko O ni baje O!”

Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, (SAN)
Governor of Lagos State