BOLA TINUBU: UNLEASHING THE POWER OF VISION
By Santo Akinloye
Andy Stanley says ‘everybody ends up somewhere in life. A few people end up somewhere on purpose. Those are the ones with vision’.
A clear vision enables you to see everything differently. Your dream will motivate you, even in the most routine of activities. It is undebatable that a clear vision backed with the courage to carry it out, significantly increases your chances of success.
Since Asiwaju Bola Tinubu ventured into politics in 1991, he has been living a vision driven life that has enabled him to control every forms of compromise and also creates momentum.
Vision is known to be the capacity to see beyond barriers and limitations.
Few days back, the Lekki deep sea port was commissioned by President Muhammad Buhari.
But, the journey started in 2006, when the 16,500 hectares free zone was created through a glimpse of purpose by Asiwaju Tinubu. Now, the Lekki free trade zone has given birth to $2.5B deep sea port, which is reported to be the first of its kind in West Africa.
Also, the zone is home to the biggest refinery in Africa, the multi billion Dangote refinery and petrochemical complex. Which is about to commence operation.
There’s no doubt that behind every immense breakthrough, there must be access to clear revelation. How do you comprehend the vision that led to the creation of Eko Atlantic City?
A city that is now described as one of the top five engineering feats in the world, is the exotic haven that the United States of America has found worthy to erect her biggest embassy on this planet.
In 2003, when he unleashed the Eko Atlantic city dream, his die- hard traducers like Chief Olabode George had declared vociferously that the project was a waste of tax players money. Today, the city is the pride of Lagos.
Before he became governor of Lagos in 1999, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is believed to have had a vision, a comprehensive deployment blueprint that will not only rebuild Lagos, but set it on the path of sustainable growth.
Few months after he assumed power, the child of vision set up what is known as ORACLE, the payroll system reforms that removed thousands of ghost workers from the work force in the year 2000. Leakages are equally blocked through the usage of Oracle, the database in payroll management in Nigeria. Since 1999 till now, many states and some federal government establishment still remain at loss on how to curb the menace of ghost workers.
The journey into the financial re engineering of Lagos fully commenced when the first economic summit to be held by any component unit in Nigeria was put together by the Tinubu administration in 2000.
It was in the course of the first EHINGBETI – the Lagos Economic Summit that Lagos States Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LASEEPS) was designed by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In 2003, he followed suit with the Lagos Economic Advancement Program(LEAP). These working blueprints has remain the master plan being implemented by the successive governors in Lagos.
Now, nearly all the states in the federation have queued into the vision of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Aside the economic summit which has become a regular feature in the yearly agenda of the state governors, they have equally copied various programs started by the visionary thinker when he reigned as chief executive of Lagos state.
Lagos State Traffic Management (LASTMA) which he created in July, 2000, Lagos State Advertisement Signage Agency (LASAA) that came into operation in 2006, the Private Sector Participation (PSP) in refuse management, which birthed in 1999, and created several thousands of jobs, have all been replicated in many states across the federation.
The blue line project which became a reality some weeks back, is one of the six rail lines and monorails prescribed for Lagos in the State’s Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) anchored by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), a world class agency established in 2002 by Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It has been said that people that can see are common. But, people with vision are very rare. Just last year, the National Assembly passed the States Assembly Autonomy bill. However, as far back as 2006, the Lagos state House of Assembly has had autonomy.
The Office of Public Defender (OPD) which many other states have had course to send their officials to Lagos to understudy its operations has been fully adopted in 14 states. It is one of the creation of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
And, in 2003, Asiwaju Tinubu demonstrated the saying that ‘vision provides you with a reason to keep going even when the times get tough’
In that year, the man who is now thumbed up as a child of destiny, established 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) out of the 20 local government councils in Lagos – as he ventured into his vision and mission of bringing governance and development nearer to the people.
However, his action was resisted by the federal government. And, for 22 months, President Olusegun Obasanjo withhold the councils fund, despite the Supreme Court pronouncement that he has no power to do so.
For the turbulent 22 months, Asiwaju Tinubu, a man with clear vision backed with courage was able to weather the storm. And, few years after the duo had left office, the former president confessed that how Asiwaju managed to survive the onslaught remain a mystery to him.
In the words of George Bernard Shaw, ‘life isn’t about finding yourself; life is about creating yourself’. The architect of modern Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has become a divined instrument of purpose whose time has come.
