Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, May 09, 2011

Good governor

Babatunde Fashola is the governor of the city-state of Lagos. The Economist reporter thinks he's doing a good job, and that's unusual in Nigeria.

A rare good man
WHEN Babatunde Fashola goes to the theatre in Lagos, his entrance usually sparks more applause than the cast’s final bow. He has been something of a hero in Nigeria’s business capital since becoming its governor in 2007. Last month he was reelected with 81% of the vote, having attempted to tame the unruly metropolis…

Of course Mr Fashola is simply doing his job. But that is quite rare among Nigerian governors, many of whom are bent on lining their pockets. “There has long been a disconnect between the people and their government,” says Mr Fashola, sporting a floppy blue hat popular among his fellow Yoruba. He stresses a rise in the tax take, which now accounts for 65% of the city-state’s revenues. If Lagos were a country, its GDP of $43 billion would make it the fifth-biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa…

Starting his second four-year term, Mr Fashola hopes to complete promised commuter-rail lines and expressways and to launch an affordable-housing project…

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