By Dele Alake
There is no gainsaying the fact that all the contending personalities in the political firmament of today, our product stands head and shoulder ahead of any other person in terms of track records, in terms of antecedents, in terms of all the attributes of leadership. He is an embodiment of all the leadership of a progressive developing nation or a nation that is in a hurry to be developed and we have the example.
Is it in social engineering? Is it in political development? Is it in infrastructural development? Is it in mental development? In any aspect of administration, public life, human life, human existence, our product, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands ahead of any contender on the horizon as of today.
A leader must be able to think minimum of 25 years and conceptualize what that will entail for the next 25-30, 40-50 years, not just for today. Cash and Carry container economics people look at immediacy. A visionary leader must look at now, the immediate term, the long term and the next generation and plan accordingly.
It is only Asiwaju who has the demonstrable capacity. He has done it, and I will give you an example. Many people are gravitating to Lagos, the Atlantic City, which is an icon of Nigeria today, was water some years back. Bar beach used to overflow into Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island. At some point, in 2000, the entire stretch of Ahmadu Bello was being submerged and the property value in Victoria Island dropped because people are moving out of fear.
I was in the cabinet at the time, so I knew exactly the A-Z of the visioning, conceptualization, monitoring and execution that translated into the Eko Atlantic today. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu insisted that sand filling would not solve the problem.
We shopped around, calling experts and they brought proposals. First, we went to South Africa, the Netherlands and almost everywhere, especially where there was water problem and ocean surges.
Eventually, Asiwaju maintained that a permanent city should come out of the place and that is whatwe have there today-Eko Atlantic City.
Today, the United States of America is already building its largest embassy in the world on the same Eko Atlantic, which is a project and investment of about over $500 million. This is aside other investments that are going on at the place.
Let me also talk about the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which Asiwaju also conceptualized in the early days of his administration. Current governor of Lagos State Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu was on the entourage that went to China when this policy was being conceptualized.
Today, the Zone has become a phenomenal economic hub. That is the Asiwaju Midas Touch. If he can translate Lagos from a mere N600 million per month IGR state into over N50 billion, then he can do wonders for the country.
– Dele Alake was Commissioner of Information & Strategy for the 8 years of Tinubu’s administration in Lagos State
