Press Releases

Fashola At SEC Retreat, Hinges Good Leadership On Vision, Purposefulness

Jul 23, 2010 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Friday anchored good leadership on vision which incorporates purposefulness, instinct for public good, sense for proper direction and feeling to want to make a change for the better.

The Governor who spoke at a two day management retreat organized for Management team of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Abuja at the Hermitage Resort in Akodo, Lagos added that a vision is a sense of purpose which propels every leader to leave things better than he met it.

Said he: "In any situation that I find myself, I am always trying to make it better than I met it. Somebody who was before me also did that. A vision is a purpose for good. For all appointed leaders, security and welfare of the people must be the primary purpose".

The Governor explained that vision also involves detailed thinking, strategic planning and decisive implementation, adding that what Nigeria lacks is decisive implementation and not thinking or strategic planning. According to the Governor, when decisions are taken, it affects people either for good or bad hence the guiding principle should be the time tested principle of aiming for the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

"The responsibility of leaders is to secure the welfare of the followers and think of what he can do to bring the greatest good to the greatest number of people at any given time. He should not go for 50-50 because there would be ethnic, religious, status considerations as hindrance and may not bring about justice", he explained.

Governor Fashola explained that every leader should emphasize teamwork and the need for every member of the team, from top to the bottom, to understand the goal of the organization or unit.

Governor Fashola described Leadership as the most vexed subject today because the race has become more complex, the activity more fluid, and expectations of leadership more in fold than it was in the last Millennium.

Said he: "Decisions made by leaders require much more detailed reflections on its consequences in three decades time. As I stand, I can see what Lagos would look like in 30 years time with planning for rail line, rural- urban development and documenting them so that the next generation would have a road map. Our efforts would give them a starting point or anchor to start with."

Imploring the participants to use the opportunity afforded by the retreat to strengthen team cohesion, Governor Fashola declared: "Retreats should not be about paper works only, but about making friends so that after it there is a connect. We came to an organization with our fears and misconception but must work as a team to break down the barriers. To achieve your purpose you must work together as a team because someday everyone would leave".

The Lagos State Governor said as long as man exist, problems would continue to exist, adding that the responsibility of leadership is to solve problems which are the same irrespective of the geographical location with the difference being only in the intensity.

Speaking from the Lagos experience, Governor Fashola said that at the outset, problems were identified in terms of the need for people to have food, clothing and shelter as well as long hours in traffic, overcrowded hospitals, street trading and security.

The Governor said the administration resolved to address the problems by tackling the infrastructural deficit which is responsible for some of the misdemeanours which people have indulged in, stating that new and fairly used cars are being bought on a daily basis by Nigerians yet no new roads were being built.

He explained that the State is already thinking of new strategies that would take over after the present infrastructural development and renewal must have ended in ten years time.

While using the Bus Rapid Transit as another example of how a leader should have courage, the Governor said several reasons were adduced on why the BRT scheme may not succeed before it was introduced, saying with consistency the preceding administration started the BRT scheme and the current one found the path of common growth by ensuring its completion.

The Governor said with the introduction of the BRT, an average of 25 cars are taken off the road every time one long range BRT bus plies the road, adding that Government has also succeeded in contributing to the improvement of human indices with which developments are measured.

In his words: "If we embark on infrastructure renewal through tax payers money, we are driving upward the economy, several people working and reducing the crime rate while we improve the welfare of the people".

Citing another example, Governor Fashola disclosed that with the greening projects round the state, over 43 companies have become gainfully engaged providing over 4,800 jobs in turn while an average of 5000 young school leavers are provided vacation jobs yearly with the figure running into 20,000 by the time the school leavers are employed this year.

Governor Fashola added that the State has also built over 5000 new classrooms with the projection of 50 students in a classroom, adding that the State has provided new classrooms for 250,000 students in public schools.

Beyond delivering infrastructure and services, the Governor explained that the administration is focused on measuring the impact of every investment that it makes, revealing that Oshodi is now a lot better than it was when congested, disclosing that the restored Oshodi has brought about improved property value and also witnessed a drop in refuse collection by 36percent.

"Everything we do, we must measure its impact to know whether the strategy is working and if not, reappraise to reinvent or jettison such. We do that measurement or assessment on a quarterly basis to know where we are heading for", he added.

Responding to a question on what he is doing to ensure that other Governors nationwide are moving at his pace, Governor Fashola said other state governors are also doing things that are worthy of commendation, stressing that the benchmark with which people measure their leaders are quite high.

On how he copes with what a participant described as "distractions" despite his widely acknowledged high performance in office, the Governor said he remains focused on the objectives of his administration and cannot be distracted.

He also advocated the building of a new terminal for the Murtala Mohammed International Airport following complaints of the unacceptable state of the airport which is the major gateway into the nation.

Governor Fashola who said he felt honoured and privileged to share his modest experiences as governor for over three years added that SEC has been at the driving seat of the State Government's efforts at raising funds as it helped midwife two successive operations of the bonds issue that contributed to the success of the infrastructural renewal of the state.

Speaking earlier, the Director General of SEC, Ms Aruma Oteh thanked the Governor for coming personally, adding that the Security and Exchange Commission has thought of no less an exceptional leader than him to come and spend time with them, because the result speaks for itself in Lagos.

"We want you to tell us how you have transformed Lagos. We want to listen to you to be able to transform the SEC and the Capital Market", Ms Oteh added.