In a rare and wide-ranging interview with Thisday Style, Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu offered a thoughtful glimpse into what it truly means to lead Lagos — Africa’s most dynamic city. Reflecting on his early days in office, he shared how, upon being sworn in amidst flooding and gridlock, there was “no transition period… you had to roll up your sleeves and get to work immediately,” a statement that captures not only urgency, but a willingness to meet reality where it actually lives: on the streets.
Beyond the challenges, Sanwo-Olu spoke with intention about how he wants his leadership remembered: not simply by projects completed, but by lives touched and institutions strengthened, emphasizing that leadership should leave systems stronger than it found them. He also framed Lagos as more than infrastructure — a cultural heartbeat and economic pulse, where music, fashion, art, and digital opportunity have been woven into the city’s identity with deliberate policy support.
This interview reveals something deeper than policy and planning. It suggests that leading Lagos is not just about mastery of traffic grids or construction sites, but about listening, understanding the resilience of people who absorb shocks and reinvent everyday life with grace. His words — measured and reflective — remind us that governance, like culture, grows from shared experience, not just statistics. And as Lagos continues to evolve, one subtle question remains for us all: when leadership pauses to learn from the lived rhythms of the people, what new stories of possibility — not just progress — might we begin to tell about our city?
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👀 ☝️👆 & let JAIYEORIE know what U think!”
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