The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has explained how he turned Lagos from a jungle to a megacity during his tenure as the governor from 1999 to 2007.
Tinubu said he laid the foundation to make the state what it is today and that Lagos came alive under his leadership.
He added that other Lagos State governors after him built upon and are still building on his foundation.
He stated this in a mini documentary aired on Channels TV on Friday night.
He said, “When I came in as governor of Lagos State in 1999, Lagos was a jungle. It was a completely uncivilised environment. There were refuse dumps everywhere, schools without roofs, hospitals without ambulances and oxygen tanks to save lives. It was in a very bad state.
“We started to put things in place gradually and the state began to take shape. What we did was to take the liabilities in the state and convert them to assets.
“Civic Centre to Oriental Hotel areas of Victoria Island were back then refuse dumps, but look at what the areas have turned to today. It is only the older ones who would remember all these.”
According to the mini-documentary, Tinubu reengineered Lagos State revenue, and after he left the office in 2007, Lagos became completely autonomous from the Federal Government regarding revenue generation.
“When Tinubu took over in 1999, Lagos was bankrupt. The internally generated revenue at the time was N600m monthly and the state was completely dependent on the Federal Government for it.
“When Tinubu was leaving office in 2007, the IGR of Lagos was N7bn monthly. Babatunde Fashola built on that legacy to N15bn monthly. This was made possible by the short, medium and long-term goals that Tinubu laid down for the state in terms of revenue and wealth generation.”
