•Lagos holds 19th Executive-Legislative Parley
As the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration in Lagos State draws towards a transition to a new government, the Governor has disclosed what his successor will inherit.
Sanwo-Olu said his administration had started drafting a comprehensive Legacy and Transition Bill that would legislate key policy frameworks of his government and those of the previous administrations into permanent institutional structures that would guide succeeding governments on governance track.
The Bill, the Governor said, will be transmitted to the House of Assembly in the course of the year, pointing out that the next administration would not only inherits completed projects, but also efficient systems.
Sanwo-Olu spoke at the ongoing 19th Executive-Legislative Parley organised by the Office of Political, Legislative and Civic Engagement of the Lagos State Government.
The three-day event with the theme: “Equal Participation in Governance: Highlighting the Importance of Collaboration in Achieving the Present Administration’s THEMES+ Agenda”, is holding at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island.
In attendance are members of the State’s Executive Council, all members of the legislature, National Assembly lawmakers of Lagos origin, All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in Lagos, members of Governance Advisory Council (GAC) led by their chairman, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, and members of the Body of Permanent Secretary in Lagos State civil service.
Sanwo-Olu stated that his administration’s final full year would be dedicated to completing and delivering outstanding infrastructure projects in the State. He emphasised he would not abandon any “project of strategic importance” to the State’s economic growth.
By the third quarter of this year, the Governor disclosed that his administration would publish a full, publicly accessible “State of Lagos Report”, which would be a data-driven account of what his administration had accomplished in the last seven years.
He said: “This final full-year Executive-Legislative Parley in the life of my administration must be more than a review; it must be a platform for commitments. I want to make the pledges to the legislature and to the people of Lagos that we will complete and commission outstanding milestones on our transport infrastructure before the end of this administration’s term. No Lagos Government project of strategic importance will be abandoned mid-stream.
“Secondly, we will present before the House a comprehensive Legacy and Transition Bill that legislates key policy frameworks into permanent institutional structures, so that the next administration inherits not just projects, but systems. We will convene a Citizens’ Assembly on Equal Participation, bringing together women, youth, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented communities, to produce a concrete roadmap for inclusion.
“The fourth commitment is that, we will publish a full, publicly accessible State of Lagos Report by the third quarter of this year, which is an honest, data-driven account of where we started, what we have achieved, and what remains. Lagos deserves to know. As a partner in this journey, I seek the House of Assembly’s continued engagement over these final months with the same energy and commitment it has shown throughout.”
As the State moves towards transition, Sanwo-Olu warned that political pressures would intensify and institutional focus could falter. He urged political office holders not to give in to resist the temptation, admonishing them to focus on delivering on their goals.
The Governor thanked members of the legislature for the mutual understanding and cooperation they had with the Executive arm, noting that the progressive legislations passed by the House of Assembly were critical to the success of his administration’s ambitious programmes.
He said: “Over the course of this administration, the House has passed critical legislation that gave legal force to our most ambitious programmes; from the laws enabling our multimodal transport framework to the fiscal instruments that supported our infrastructure bonds.
“The budget approvals, the oversight hearings that kept agencies accountable, and the constituency engagements that brought citizen voices into the legislative record; these are not small things. They are the scaffolding on which everything we have built has stood.”
Sanwo-Olu used the opportunity to outline the progress recorded by his administration over the past year across the THEMES+ Agenda.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Legislative and Civic Engagement, Dr Tajudeen Afolabi, stated that the yearly meeting, held for nearly two decades, had provided a platform to foster harmonious relationships among all political actors in the State.
