The Governor Magazine

governor
the
SPECIAL INAUGURAL EDITION
He had participated in the conception of the developmental programs that were done between
1998 and 2003 most of which is what is being implemented in the last 20 years.
I don't have any doubt, he will take Lagos state to greater heights no doubt about it. There is so
much to expect; I know what happened to us, he turned around this place, he improved the
personalities here, people were trained, bigger exposures, bigger responsibilities, people were
challenged, people were fulfilled, people were motivated and that is what happens when you
motivate your staff, they will deliver bigger. So Lagos state government staff should be thrilled.
They are going to be motivated, they will be happy doing what they are doing and God willing,
Lagos will be better for it.
We should all join hands with the governor, support him with our prayers, we should also support
him with what is expected of us, in terms of our civic duties and once we do that, the sky is the
limit for Lagos state.
Oluwakemi Lateef - GM, Admin & HR LSDPC
I can describe Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu in many forms because he is many things to a lot of people
but from my own purview which is HR, he is a man that has workers welfare at heart. Right from
his inception here at LSDPC, he took staff welfare as his priority, even when there were
challenges. Initially when he came in, the system wasn't too smooth, there was the challenge of
funding, the challenge of labour issues and many other challenges, but he came in, and probably
due to his vast experience at the private and the public sector, he was able to resolve all the
lingering problems within few months that he was here. In fact, I am also a testimony to one of
his early achievements here at LSDPC. Before he came in as the managing director, the highest
that any staff could get to here was the deputy general manager so he came and he said for him
he doesn't see anything stopping any staff here, a deserving staff from getting to the zenith of
their career; so he changed the existing rule. He was the one that brought in the idea of elevating
staff to the position of general manager. That is how few of us in the system were able to get to
the position of general manager.
Before he came to LSDPC, we had this idea of, training is done only when there is money, but
when he came in, he said if you want to get the best from staff, you need to motivate them. He
took staff motivation as his priority and no matter what constraint he has at that time, he
ensured that every month or at every point in time, staff training and other welfare are taken as
priority and at times, some of us wonder how he is able to achieve these things that he achieved.
The other thing that I also see is, since I got to LSDPC, I dare say I have not seen the
infrastructural regeneration that he undertook and he completed most of them. This office is a
testimony. You need to be here some few years back and see the state of the office but he went
round and he said look, if you want your staff to give you the best, it is not only training them,
you also must give them the best environment to work and that will challenge them to give you
the best. So he undertook that project, he started with Block A, that's where he was when he was
here and when he completed that block A, people thought “oh this is the best LSDPC has ever
seen” but, little did they know that he was just bringing out the bird from his pocket. He took this
one too and he did a complete renovation. At some point, some of us were thinking he was overtrading,
when we looked at the cost implication of what he was doing, but he was able to achieve
all those with the problem of cash flow that was inherent in the system at that time.
Apart from his love for staff welfare, he also came with a genius financial engineering that some
of us do not really understand and we have never seen before he got here.
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