The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lagos

  • Balogun Market fire:Traders seek compensation from Lagos

    Marketers and traders in Lagos State have appealed to the state government to compensate victims of Balogun Market fire, which happened on Monday.

    The traders, acting under the aegis of Coalition of Markets and Traders Association in Lagos, made  the appeal yesterday when they held an ‘extraordinary general meeting’.

    Speaking at the event, Sir Nnamdi Nwigwe of the Association of Igbos in Commerce (AIC), one of the associations in the Coalition, noted that traders who lost one item or the other in the fire that razed the market needed to be compensated to serve as consolation for  their loses.

    Sir Nwigwe lamented that some traders displayed their wares along the road that should have been used by men of the Lagos State Fire  and Safety Services to  doused the inferno and reduce losses.

    He therefore urged Governor Babatunde Fashola to urgently take steps to stop  people who illegally and indiscriminately display their wares.

    The group also urged the government to back an insurance policy for marketers to cover situations such as fire outbreaks and other losses.

    The Coalition is the umbrella body of four associations, namely: AIC, Traders Rights Protecion Initiative (TRPI), Amalgamated Traders, Lagos and Market Leaders Association.

    The gathering also had in attendance, the Imo State Liaison Officer for Lagos, Alfred Ononugbo.

    The association enjoined traders not to make themselves instruments in the hands of desperate politicians. They threatened to severely sanction any trader caught in the act.

  • Ambode: I ‘ll take Lagos to greater heights

    Ambode: I ‘ll take Lagos to greater heights

    The governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, has promised to take the city state to greater heights, if elected at the poll.

    He described the election as an opportunity for Lagosians to invest in popular rule, assuring that they will garner progress and development as returns.

    Ambode, who held partisan meetings with artisans, peasants, market women and members of the informal sector urged them to vote for the APC at the polls.

    He said: “Lagos deserves a tested hand who will continue in that tradition of excellence. The governor that Lagos State deserves at this period of our continued growth and development is a man with a track record of performance and excellence; a man who is tested, who understands governance and is an experienced administrator who will not experiment with the resources and growth template of this state.  I, Akinwunmi, Ambode, is that man.”

    Contributing to a lecture titled:’2015 General Polls: Beyond the Rhetorics of Credible Elections,’ at the Muson Centre, Onikan,  which was delivered by Prof. Anthony Kila, the flag bearer promised a government of continuity.

    Ambode, a Fulbright scholar, said that selfless service and leadership by example should be the hallmark of an elected office holder. official who  He added: “Selfless service becomes non-negotiable if the process that brought elected leaders into office is free, fair and credible. But often, we see leaders who derail and abandon their promises to the electorates because the process that brought them to office is flawed. They feel they do not owe the voters. This is why we in APC have been very vocal about the need to have a credible election; to have a process that is fair and transparent and to have an election that does not seek to systematically disenfranchise electorates.”

    He added that APC would not relent in urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do everything in its power to ensure that all the eligible six million registered voters in Lagos State get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in order to exercise their civic duties, failing which those with Temporary Voters Card should be allowed to exercise their constitutional rights. “This is the only way to ensure that INEC’s preparedness is beyond rhetorics so that the February elections can produce leaders that the people want.”

    The former Accountant-General  alsos reiterated his readiness to serve without blemish. He has met with stakeholders, including the  Zonal Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Lagos Zone, Comrade Tokunbo Korodo, the National Coordinator of the Civil Society Club of Nigeria (CISOCON), Comrade Babatunde Ashafa, and the Chairman of the Council of Arewa Chiefs, Alhaji Sani Kabiru.

    Ambode urged them to mobilise members of their various groups to endorse the APC at the polls.

  • Why Lagos youths will vote for Ambode, by leader

    the President of Young Achievers Campaign Organisation of Nigeria (YACOON), Mr. Temitope Adewale, has said Lagos State youths prefer All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, to others.

    The youth leader compared Ambode with other parties’ candidate, returning a verdict that the APC man was the preferred candidate.

    According to him, the People Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Jimi Agbaje, was no match to Ambode.

    He said: “Agbaje is a gentleman and, no doubt, appeals to several youths in Lagos State. The pharmacist-turned politician wowed Lagos youths with a Nollywood style of campaign in 2007. He has ever since been in the minds of Lagosians as a man of the future. Pundits regretted that Agbaje failed to take the humble pie and become a commissioner under Governor Babatunde Fashola in 2007, a move many claim would have sealed his fate as a possible successor to Fashola in 2015.

    “Agbaje shunned what may have been a lifetime opportunity to learn from service, which a much more politically experienced Senator Hilary Clinton took in 2009, serving under her former rival, President Barack Obama. Mrs Clinton, a United States former First Lady, knew that to boost her chances of being the first woman President of the U.S in 2016, she needed to boost her foreign policy experience, which she successfully did as Secretary of State. Beyond that, she showed to the world that she had the capacity to collaborate with past rivals, learn from them and even serve under them. These are important leadership qualities that Agbaje failed to demonstrate during the eight years tenure of Fashola…

  • ITTF lists Lagos World Tour for March

    The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has listed Lagos World Tour among the challenge series and it will hold betweenMarch 10 to 14.

    In the prospectus released by the world table tennis governing body, the prize money for the Lagos Tour has also been hiked to $46,000 (N8.3m) while six events will be jostled for by players across the globe.

    The events – Men’s single, women’s single, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, U-21 boys’ singles and U-21 girls’ singles.

    The Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium will host the five-day tournament while the final entry for the tournament has been fixed for February 18.

    Algeria’s Nabil Almamoon has been named as the referee while his compatriot, Mounir Bessah is the competition manager.

    It stated: “According to the 2015 Directives and SSI for World Tour, we have to limit the number of entries to players in total. Only the final entries are taken into consideration by the organisers and the Competition Manager for the participation of your players. An association can enter a maximum of 24 direct entries (six players by category: MS, WS, U21 boys and U-21 girls). If no U-21 event is played an association can enter a maximum of 12 direct entries. The host association can enter a maximum of 48 direct entries (12 players by category: MS, WS, U21 boys and U-21 girls).”

    “If no U-21 event is played the host association can enter a maximum of 24 direct entries. No association can have more than six players entered in the doubles event except the host association (12 players) if the Doubles event is played at this tournament. The additional entries will be put on a waiting list and accepted depending on the total number of entries,” the prospectus said.

  • APC, PDP and battle for Lagos

    APC, PDP and battle for Lagos

    For 16 years, the progressive parties have ruled Lagos and impacted on the city-state. Will the situation be different in the general election? Ade Adetayo, who examines the two parties — the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — contends that the ruling party will have an edge over the opposition platform in the general elections. 

    The struggle for the soul of Lagos State by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic  Party (PDP) is taking on an interesting dimension. The issues that will shape the contest are many. They include security, economy, job creation and the infrastructure battle. But, the slogans have not excluded innuendoes, half-truths and flowery promises, which to the discerning electorate, may end up as the elusive rainbow on the lambent sky.

    On January 4,  Mr. Jimi Agbaje, the PDP flag bearer, was  in North London to present  a fanciful speech entitled: ‘My Master Plan for a New Lagos’ to a select audience of party supporters from Europe and America. It focused on three key areas of security, education and health. To the PDP faithful in the Diaspora, it all sounded more like some sweet music to their eager ears. But,  to the vast majority of discerning Lagosians, Agbaje’s claim of the ‘real change’ is laughable.And why not? It all boils down to the fact that they have immensely benefitted from what good governance is all about, especially during the tenure of Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Agbaje’s treatise on the new Lagos therefore,cracks the rib all because a politician cannot give what his party does not have.

    Indeed, one pertinent reason why the APC’s mantra of ‘Change’ has caught the nation’s polity like a wildfire and millions of Nigerians are queuing behind its party flag bearers at both the state and federal levels is the incontestable fact that PDP has failed the citizenry and woefully too.

    In fact, it has become an inglorious acronym andsordid symbol for all that poor leadership entails. Name it-clueless leadership,failed electoral problems, prevailing decrepit infrastructure characterized by epileptic power supply and distribution, pot hole-riddled roads,mass youth unemployment all signpost our journey so far from 1999 to 2015 under PDP. Add these to the twin evils of crass corruption and inexcusable impunity all in high places.And that again explains the growing clamour across the political spectrum for the much-needed and long-awaited change.

    It therefore, stands logic on its head for anyone flying the leaking umbrella of the PDP which has been unable to shield us from the scorching sun of inept leadership as well as the lashing rains of corruption to promise change. Agbaje’s  promises to act as the key to unlock Lagos state’s huge potentials is not in tandem with realities on ground. The reasons are obvious  because those potentials have  already been made obvious to the generality of the residents courtesy of APC’s people-friendly policies, programmes and projects.Where do we start from as the list is endless?

    Do we talk of the unprecedented turn- around in the state’s economy, which even Agbaje admits has witnessed an exponential increase from an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N10 billion  in 1999 to N400 billion in 2014?And which has made it possible for impact-making programmes in the key areas of infrastructural development, healthcare delivery, education, skills acquisition and transportation? What about the  most modern ten-lane Lagos-Badagry  Expressway or the Lekki Export Processing Zone?

    What about the effective waste management system boasting of 5,000 refuse trucks within five years of Fashola’s administration across the state? Can we forget the Operation Green Lagos with clean toilets, eradication of the menace of floods assisted by the dredging of canals in such areas as Orile-Iganmu, Ajegunle and Ogba? What about the most modern mobile  sewage laboratory as the first of its kind in Africa? Do we speak about the clean,orderly and affordable Bus Rapid Transport system that has since become a model for other states?Are these the ones Agbaje refers to as the ‘give-and-take policies of the present administration’?

    If indeed, he is true to his conscience Agbaje would admit that given the spate of preventable fatal accidents caused mainly by the okada riders, government’s clamp down on their nefarious activities  is all meant  to save irreplaceable lives. Some were reportedly  engaged in the nefarious activities of armed robbery and ritual murders. Those whose motor cycles were seized ran afoul of the law. Every responsible government is based on the rule of law.

    In addition, Agbaje’s claim of the collection of N1,000 from market  women per day as unremitted and un-receipted for flies in the face of the aforementioned increase in the IGR. Maintenance of modern markets do not go for free anywhere in the world. And so is quality education delivery, whether we admit it or not. But graciously, the government has made sacrifice in other areas to make the reversal possible.With the vast improvement in the pupils’ and students’ reading culture as evident in improved performance in external examinations set by WAEC/NECO and JAMB, his claim of poor learning conditions in Lagos schools holds littler water. This is incomparable withwhat obtains in the PDP-led states.

    The same scenario plays itself out when the APC flag-bearerof the state, Mr.Akinwunmi Ambode, a thoroughbred, tested and trusted technocrat and financial guru, is pitched against that of the PDP, Mr.Jimi Agbaje, a run-of-the mill failed politician cum pharmacist. While Ambode parades a pride-evoking curriculum vitae as the former Accountant –General, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance and Auditor-General, whose experience traversed several of the local government councils in the state, Agbaje’s own pales into insignificance. His only credential in politics is having contested the state gubernatorial ticket on the platform of one the defunct political parties.

    This throws up the fundamental questions. Even as an un biased observer or a referee in the game of politics, who would score more of the vital goals? Ambode of course, based on his wealth of experience in the administrative affairs of the state and his robust qualification in financial management. He stands on the brink of history to carry on the baton of the culture of leadership excellence which the forward-looking administration of BRF will be handing over come May 29,2015?

    The preference for the vastly experienced APC in the Centre of Excellence above the untested and untrustworthy PDP is the wisest of all. The  difference between light  and darkness  is patently clear.

  • Verdict 2015: How far can Agbaje’s PDP go in Lagos?

    Verdict 2015: How far can Agbaje’s PDP go in Lagos?

    Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, ex-rays the chances of PDP candidate, Jimi Agbaje, in the next governorship election in Lagos State.

    WITH the 2015 governorship election in Lagos State fast approaching, prominent political parties in the state, especially the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are all kitted for what pundits continue to say will be an interesting political battle.

    Determined not to leave anything to chance, the two parties are daily planning and orchestrating how to outwit each other at the polls. For the APC, it is highly necessary for it to retain its hold on the politics of the state beyond 2015 while for the PDP, there is serious need for it to end its long wait outside power in the state this year.

    In the APC, a 51-year-old accountant and public finance management expert, Akinwumi Ambode, defeated political heavyweights, including Commissioner for Works, Femi Hamzat, the Senate Minority Whip, Ganiyu Solomon, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji and former Commissioner for Health, Leke Pitan, to win the party’s gubernatorial ticket in a keenly contested election.

    In the PDP, Jimi Agbaje, a renowned Pharmacist and Afenifere chieftain, is the party’s choice. He was a member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Action Congress (AC) until 2007.

    In 2007, Agbaje in his unrelenting desire to govern the center of excellence, joined the Democratic People Alliance (DPA) where he contested the election and lost. Agbaje, joined the PDP late last year after he was allegedly promised the party’s governorship ticket by the leadership of the party at the national level.

    “I decided to choose the PDP to realise my political ambition based on the common and aggregated opinion among the core of my supporters across the state that the party was the most viable platform interested in causing the change desired by Lagos people,” Agbaje had said when defending his party of choice.

    Ahead of the general election, Agbaje’s emergence as the PDP gubernatorial candidate has set the stage with claims and counter claims over what he portends for the opposition party in Lagos State.

    While some talk about a keenly contested two-horse race between the APC and the PDP for who will become the next governor of the state, some insist Agbaje’s candidature will not add any value to the party’s chances as it will still be roundly defeated as usual.

    Those optimistic about Agbaje’s performance in the polls are citing the fact that the structure on which he contested the 2007 election has now been collapsed into the PDP. With this, they feel the party is further strengthened to tackle the APC in next month’s election.

    But there are those who feel that with PDP as his party of choice, Agbaje should not bank on the support he enjoyed in 2007. “While Agbaje may be well loved by Lagosians in a way, his candidature is not enough to change how the people of Lagos feel about the PDP.

    “The implication of this is that Agbaje will not make any meaningful impact at the election. He has disconnected from the people of Lagos the moment he joined PDP. He was loved as a progressive who meant well for Lagos by associating with those who mean well for Lagos. His current party is a big minus for him,” Liadi Abatan, former State Secretary of the DPA, Agbaje’s former party, said.

    But a chieftain of the PDP in Lagos, Olufemi Williams, said the party stands a great chance of winning the governorship election with Agbaje as candidate. Williams said an Agbaje candidacy would boost the PDP’s chances at the polls.

    “Jimi Agbaje is the best man for the job. He was not a member of the party but we convinced him to join us. Let us not deceive ourselves. I believe Agbaje is the man with the needed requisite to win Lagos for us. He is still as popular as he was seven years ago when he vied for the governorship slot and we all know he could have won if our election had been free and fair,” Williams said.

    But in spite of his victory at the primary election, Agbaje is currently battling some serious issues within his party. And unless these issues are promptly resolved, his aspiration to rule Lagos may remain mere wishing thinking.

    Issues like the need to reconcile the several factions of the party and how the party will coordinate the governorship campaign are slowing down the progress of the party towards preparing adequately for the all-important February election.

    “We are preparing seriously. But up till this moment, some leaders are not ready to work with others to ensure Agbaje’s victory. Even after all the aspirants pledge their supports to him, some leaders remained aggrieved even after the candidate himself met some of them and pleaded for their understanding. Majority of them claimed they are not angry with him but with the leaders who imposed him on the party.

    There is also the problem of how to run the campaign. This is a pressing problem. Some have been wondering if the present structure established before the primary election to promote Agbaje would be retained. There are frantic calls for harmonisation to accommodate all interests in the party.

    Feelers, however, indicated that the Bode George/Ogunlewe faction of the party may be unwilling to accommodate other interests. A source, who said the party will commence its campaign early this month, indicated that moves by the party to resolve the matter have not yielded positive results.

    A member of the state executive committee, who preferred anonymity, while assuring The Nation that all interests would be harmonized soon, said the party realises the danger of the current situation.

    “This is nothing unusual in party politics. There was a primary election and people contested against themselves. Leaders supported different aspirants. Now we have a candidate and everybody needs to work together.

    It is a process and we are on that road to harmonization and reconciliation. It will be concluded soon. Yes, there are issues but we are working hard to resolve them. Are there no similar issues in the other parties? It is normal in party politics and democracy,” he said.

    But the APC candidate for Ikorodu Federal Constituency in Lagos State, Jimi Benson, is of the opinion that no matter how hard Agbaje and his party tries, defeat awaits them at the polls. He said his party is poised to sweep all elective positions in the state during the 2015 general elections.

    According to Benson, the APC will benefit from the goodwill of its leaders in Lagos State like former Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor and Babatunde Raji Fasola, amongst others.

    “God has used the likes of Asiwaju Tinubu and Governor Fasola to bring meaningful development to our dear state. The people of the state are living witnesses to the great efforts of our leaders towards making life better for the people.

    “These and other goodwill is what will win the state for APC. Apart from that, take a good look at the candidates the party is presenting and you will agree with me that APC is the party to beat in this election. The fact remains that APC is the party of the people in Lagos State,” he said.

    This was similar to the opinion of the Deputy Chairman of APC in Lagos State, James Omolaja Odumbaku, who said the party had already coasted 80 percent victory as a result of its delivery on democracy since the beginning of the third republic in 1999.

    The APC chieftain also said the achievement of the party in Lagos State gives it a broader chance of clinching the governorship seat once again. According to him, the achievements of the state government in the area of health, education, transport, infrastructural development and provision of social amenities are now reference points to all the states in the federation.

  • Lagos: Continuity or change

    Lagos: Continuity or change

    Is it not the height of inconsistency for this
    column to vigorously articulate the case for
    change at the centre in the February 14 presidential election but argue for continuity in Lagos in the governorship election two weeks later? After all, just as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been in power continuously at the centre since 1999, the same political tendency now encapsulated in the emergent All Progressives Congress (APC), has been piloting the affairs of Lagos State since the commencement of this political dispensation. Should sauce for the goose not also be sauce for the gander in objective political commentary? These are indeed valid, even if hardly logical questions.

    The case for continuity or change cannot be made in a vacuum. Neither must change nor continuity be sought simply for its own case. The argument for either must be anchored on appropriate contextual and empirical realities. The case for change from one political party to another becomes unassailable when the continued tenancy of the incumbent party has, by its appalling performance, become a road block to the continued peace, progress and prosperity of society. In the same way, to effect change from a demonstrably performing party to one without a superior track record or agenda simply for the sake of change will most likely have serious negative implications for the developmental trajectory of the affected society.

    We have, in this space, consistently made the case for the imperative of change at the centre at the February 14 presidential polls. If Nigeria continues on its present course, she is headed for utter disaster if not irreversible ruination. From all developmental indices, Nigerians are worse off today than they were at the beginning of this dispensation in 1999. And this is despite the humongous amounts of revenues the country reaped from oil in the last 15 years before the onset of the current economic recession attendant on the steep fall in international crude oil prices.

    Yes, the performance of the Obasanjo administration between 1999 and 2007 was largely mediocre and uninspiring. Yet, the administration recorded modest achievements, which have been completely eroded, first by the physical incapacitation which hobbled Obasanjo’s immediate successor, President Umaru YarA’dua and the industrial scale mediocrity, venality and incompetence of the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan presidency that is rapidly unravelling before our very eyes.

     So bad have things become that even the wily Ota farmer is now one of the most vehement voices insisting on the urgent need for change at the centre in next month’s polls to save Nigeria. Agreed, Obasanjo has his own ulterior and selfish motives for his scathing public excoriation of the Jonathan administration. But his allegations against a man he raised, controversially, from the relative political obscurity of Bayelsa State as governor, to the acme of presidential authority in Abuja cannot be dismissed as lacking in credibility.

    True, Lagos is part of Nigeria and residents of the megacity are not immune from the socio-economic consequences of the PDP’s misrule at the centre since 1999. But the Lagos of today is not the veritable jungle and fiscally bankrupt entity she was in 1999. Back then, mountains of refuse formed repellent skyscrapers on major highways across the state. Public primary and secondary schools were in a state of utter dilapidation.

     A common sight in Lagos then was that of school children laboriously carrying desks and chairs to and from school daily. Classroom walls routinely collapsed wounding and killing innocent children. Men, women and children could be seen in 1999 carrying all sizes of buckets and basins in search of potable water throughout Lagos State. Metropolitan and rural roads across the state were crater and pot-hole ridden. Ah! Human memory can be so short.

    Today, Lagos is a different story. In a decade and a half she has taken remarkable strides towards becoming a model global megacity. Under the Tinubu and Fashola administrations between 1999 and now, Lagos has become a bastion of fiscal solvency, a laboratory of creative innovations that add value to governance and a model of radical transformation of infrastructure across diverse sectors. No, don’t get me wrong. Lagos has not yet reached the Promised Land. She is still very much a work in progress. But it is indisputable that the state has left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.

    To lead Lagos to the next level, the APC has elected as its flag bearer from a pool of no less astute and distinguished aspirants a man, whose life and career have been closely intertwined with the destiny of Lagos. He has been a key brain behind the cutting edge financial innovations that have made the on-going transformation of Lagos possible.

    An alumnus of some of the best academic institutions in Nigeria and abroad, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode is a chartered accountant, a financial expert, proficient public sector administrator and now a successful operator in the private sector. Being a key player in both the Tinubu and Fashola administrations, there can hardly be anyone better placed to build on current successes, remedy identified weaknesses and elevate the quality of governance in Lagos State.

    Yet, the PDP has responded brilliantly to the emergence of Ambode as APC candidate. Eager to actualise its ambition of wresting power from the progressives in Lagos State, the PDP has elected as its governorship flag bearer, Mr Jimi Agbaje, a pharmacist, successful entrepreneur and activist politician. Agbaje contested unsuccessfully for the governorship of Lagos State in 2007 on the platform of the defunct Democratic Parties Alliance (DPA) even though he made a good impression on the public. He has a charming personality, a winsome smile and a huge dose of credibility.

    Ambode is amply endowed with those qualities too. But he has something more. A record of 27 years of public service in Lagos State rising from the lowest rungs of the local government service to the apex of the service as Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of Lagos State. He can hit the ground running. Agbaje has little or no public sector experience. He would require a considerable period of learning and experimentation in office – a hardly affordable luxury. That could make a crucial difference in the election.

    Beyond this, Agbaje will have to convince Lagosians on why they should vote for a party, the PDP that has performed so catastrophically at the centre bringing the country to the very edge of the precipice. The sheer impunity, wastefulness and recklessness in the management of the Federation Account under the Jonathan presidency has negatively affected the states including Lagos, which now receive depleted statutory allocations monthly. Despite the huge revenues that continue to accrue to the nation’s treasury from the Tin Can Island and Apapa ports in Lagos, the PDP’s promise to rehabilitate the Apapa-Oshodi federal expressway remains a pipe dream.

    Agbaje’s advocacy for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term may erode badly from his hard earned political capital. It would mean his endorsement of Dr Jonathan’s glaring mediocrity and make him vulnerable to insinuations that he may not aim himself for a higher standard of performance if elected Lagos State governor. Yet, the good pharmacist’s dilemma is understandable. He cannot run on the platform of the PDP and not campaign for his party’s presidential candidate.  Taking all the variables into consideration, the only rational option is for change at the centre and continuity in Lagos.

  • Lagos Countdown: Selling Bar Beach to the world

    Lagos Countdown: Selling Bar Beach to the world

    The Lagos Countdown, which ushers in a New Year, is not all about fun and razzmatazz. It is a tool designed by the state government to sell the Bar Beach to the world, reports ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, who was at last weekend’s colourful events, which ushered in 2015.

    A true brand experience is more than an interaction, say brand experts. It is that moment in time when a customer not only sees the brand promise but is able to live it in ways that drive deep affinity and loyalty.

    At last Wednesday’s Lagos Countdown to usher in 2015 the state government explored this  tool to market the Bar Beach waterfront in Victoria Island, Lagos, as a world destination brand.

    To the event’s organiser, Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), there is more to the Lagos brand than the slogan, Eko O Ni Baje. Delivering the experience is what makes the slogan create an impact beyond the sloganeering. “When you ask executives this question, many say that branding is the best way to attract customers and foster loyalty. But there’s really more to the story. There’s actually a more effective way to attract and retain customers – and it has to do with the experience you deliver,” a brand expert who observe the Lagos Countdown, said.

    With the use of social media, CNN and other media channels to relay the experience of audience live at the Lagos Countdown, whose grand finale was held at the Bar Beach on cross-over night, the impact of the countdown in delivering what participants called “the Lagos Experiential marketing” cannot be undermined. “These experiences don’t just impact those individual in Lagos but also those who watched it on CNN, social media and more; those who came tell their friends and family. As one study found, traditional marketing activities often can’t match the power of these word-of-mouth recommendations-experiantial,” says an expert.

    As a result, the Bar Beach played host to an estimated 200,000 participants for 2014 edition of the countdown as against 100,000 recorded in 2013. According to LASAA, who put up the event for the Lagos State government, part of the aim of the countdown is to brand Lagos for global positioning in tourism with the aim of deepening its commerce.

    This aim appeared to have been achieved with the just concluded Lagos Countdown which according to report made available to The Nation, recorded trade and commerce transactions in excess of N2 billion between December 1 to the crossover night, December 31 through January 1, 2015.

     

    The experience

    The event explored music, christmas and New Year festive seasons, musical artistes and celebs to create a good experience about Lagos using the Bar Beach as the setting. An enchanting cascade of lights, fireworks and pyrotechnics, all combining to transform the entire Bar Beach, in Victoria Island, Lagos, into a melting pot of culture, entertainment, leisure and commerce.

    A participant in the countdown, Funmilayo Ademulegun, narrated her experience, saying she prayed to be alive, hale and hearty to witness the 2015 edition. Ademulegun said shortly after the crossover was announced with thunderous fireworks, she took some minutes to reverence God and thanked Him for all He has done for her in the course of the out gone year. Afterwards, she said she looked for a strategic location to enjoy the fireworks.

    “The dark sky became lit. The fireworks were coming round after rounds and it was splendid to behold. I cannot forget in a hurry the excitement that came with the fireworks, the music performance and the entire merriment will linger in my memory for the rest of the year,” she said.

    Also, a United State of America diplomat (name withheld) who was at the event described the grand finale of the countdown as “electric”. He said he would invite his family from to Nigeria to experience the next edition.

     

    Fashola’s dream about Bar Beach

    This, perhaps, informed the reason the Lagos State Governor Babtunde Raji Fashola’s clamour for repeat of the countdown every month.  According to him, “for me, the work is not finished. What we have done here for about a month now must now happen here, every month; from then on, every day. That is when the story will be complete. When there will be commerce and sport, when there will be signing, when there will be buying and selling and when the whole world will fly into this city and the state and to this country and say that I am going to Lagos State Bar Beach water front. That is the dream.”

    Fashola said the importance of the countdown is primarily to boost trade and commerce in the Bar Beach area where the annual event takes place and to make the area a globally acknowledged tourism destination not only for Nigerians, but for the entire people in the world.

    The governor who participated in many of the countdown events, including the sea food festival and the festival of light, said the standard of the countdown and its potential continues to improve, noting that the Lagos State Government aims to improve on the annual event until it becomes a daily affair.

     

    Sponsorship

    Fashola expressed appreciation to all the sponsors of the annual festival who believe in the dream.  “I must thank all our sponsors for their faith, for their trust and for their investment in our dream and this is an investment that I believe is yielding result not only by what I see but also by what is happening. A lot of enterprise, commerce is taking place on this 1.5km stretch and it’s been happening since the first day of December. We have had a fish festival here, we have had a big soccer event here and all of this is gone on. For me, this is a real economy. The economy, instead of giving our people a handout; through strategic thinking and partnership; we give them a hand up so that they can be whoever they want to be on their own efforts and their own initiatives. I want to thank all of you who have made it possible.”

    Just as expected and as reflected in the slogan for the 2014 event, “Lagos Countdown Like Never Before,” the Managing Director of Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Mr. George Noah, had in several interactions with journalists said the slogan was carefully chosen because 2014 event “will surpass those held previously.”

    Noah noted: “When you put up a show of this magnitude, you consider the lighting, the fireworks, stage and the crowd. Our friends from the United States and the United Kingdom who partnered with us helped us with the lighting, stage setting and fireworks.”

    Due to the hype, the frenzy and smooth organisation of the 2014 countdown, the international community included Lagos among the top 10 tourist destinations for crossover events; even as the ground finale of the countdown featured on CNN for the first time.

    Lots of people travelled from far and wide to witness the crossover, even as they were thrilled with melodious music and great fireworks which lasted for about 25 minutes.

    Justifying the volume of capital which changed hands during the countdown period, George Noah noted that though the money didn’t come directly into the coffers of the state, it exchanged hands among Lagos residents and helped improve their lots as they participated in trade and commerce during the countdown. Also, lots of cash, it was gathered, exchanged hands in advertisement, trade and commerce, hotels and accommodations, transportation and movements etc.

    Speaking on the uniqueness of 2014 Countdown, Noah said: “Countdown is about commerce, it’s about brand development and the rest. 2014 is a unique countdown. We have almost four weeks to start our countdown but in other places, it is just once. New York does not feature 30 artistes; it is only in Lagos this happens.”

    In addition to offering a viable platform for commerce, he said the event encouraged brand development, job creation, leisure, entertainment and tourism. 2014 Lagos Countdown served as institutionalisation of an enduring crossover tradition that signified the end of one year and the celebration of the beginning of another in a splendid fashion.

  • Lagos to implement 18% pension increment

    Lagos to implement 18% pension increment

    Lagos State Government has assured its workers that it will soon implement the increment in monthly contributions of both employers and employees from 15 per cent to 18 per cent.

    The Pension Reform Act 2014 mandates employers under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to contribute 10 per cent of emoluments monthly while employees contribute eight per cent.

    Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), Rotimi Adekunle Hussain, spoke at  the 15th Bond presentation.

    He said the Commission paid  243 retirees N1.54 billion before the  CPS took off the state in 2007.

    He said so far, the government had paid into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) of 5, 773 retirees under the CPS a total N30.48 billion.

    On the increment, Hussein explained that LASPEC was studying the new law to propose some amendments to the Lagos State Pension Reform Law 2007.

    He said this would be sent to the state House of Assembly.

    To further underscore the  government’s commitment to the scheme, he said the monthly deduction of 7.5 per cent from the salary of every employee and the counterpart 7.5 per cent contribution by the state government had been  paid.

    He said: “The joint contribution  has grown to the tune of N55.58 billion. It is thus a thing of joy that the present administration is leaving behind a legacy worthy of emulation by subsequent administrations in the state.

    “In a clear departure from what obtained in the old scheme, the beneficiaries are enjoying their retirement benefits under the CPS without any rancour or stress. The feedback we get regularly about the well-being of our retirees show that they are enjoying their retirement peacefully as all the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and insurance companies usually remit pension entitlements into their respective accounts at least by the 25th day of each month.’’

    He continued: “The CPS, which is being operated at both federal and state levels, is aimed at righting the wrongs associated with the Pay-As-You-Go Scheme. It is interesting that for the past 10 years of the existence of the new scheme, there has not been any case of fraud, embezzlement or misappropriation of funds. The Pension Reform Act 2004 which was recently amended with the Pension Reform Act 2014 comes along with a lot of improved benefits for workers and assurances of better future in retirement.”

    Hussain urged its workers and residents of voting age to vote for the right candidate at the next general election.

    He noted that the state has continued to be the leading light not only in the administration of pension benefits but in good and credible governance.

  • Lagos PDP primaries defective, says Obanikoro

    Lagos PDP primaries defective, says Obanikoro

    • I went to court to protest injustice

    Former Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has reflected on the governorship primaries, insisting that the process was defective.

    The former Minister of State for Defence said he embraced reconciliation because the interest of the party is greater than the ambition of members. But, he said he went to court so that thye mistake will not be repeated in the future.

    Obanikoro spoke on a live television programme in Lagos on the flawed shadow poll, his rejection of the results and recourse to litigation to protest the injustice. He maintained that the number of votes were more than the number of accredited delegates, adding that the discrepancy dented the image of the chapter.

    Explaining why he went to court to protest the flawed process, he said: I fought against a process that was not transparent to make the necessary correction. I went to court to correct that. The number of votes was 867. The delegates were 806. Our vision is for a greater Lagos. We needed to clean up the process. Whatever we do today can serve as a precedent. We want those coming behind us to have a worthy legacy to emulate.

    “We went to court and the leadership of the party intervened. I can assure you. We are not going to have a repeat of that in Lagos State. We have taken this to the highest level of our party leadership. We will not have a repeat of this where figures will change without explanation.”

    Obanikoro, who said politicians must not sacrifice the collective interest of their parties on the alter of personal ambition, warned against the danger of faulty primaries.

    He said, for the first time in the history of the Lagos PDP, members did not defect to another party in protest because of the flawed primaries.

    The former minister, however, clarified between what he described as a process that is tainted and a process that is illegal. He said: “Can you build legally on an illegal land? When we say something is tainted, it does not mean that it is illegal. We can remember the election of George Bush and Al Gore in the Unites States. The Supreme Court said otherwise. The society is bigger than individuals. Look at the election of Kennedy and Richard Nixon. But, the leadership preserved the country for patriotic reasons.”

    The politician said a flawed primary cannot always be avoided because of human errors. He added: “There is no perfect condition of humanity. It is continuous. We must continue to find solution.”

    Obanikoro dismissed the rumour that he agreed to support the flag bearer, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, because he was promised a ministerial position. He said President Goodluck Jonathan reserved the right to determine the person that will become a minister.

    The former minister spoke on the challenge of next year’s election, stressing that the PDP can only win the battle, if it is united.

    He stressed: “To win Lagos, we must be united. We want a government that will constructively engage the Federal Government.”

    Obanikoro also highlighted conditions for a hitch-free elections, saying that post-electoral violence can be averted. He added: “The leadership on both sides must embrace peace and their body language must lead to that. We need peace and tranquility to move Nigeria forward.”