LAGOS SECURED, LAGOS SUCCEED: OGUNSAN, BALOGUN MEETS TINUBU, SHETTIMA, BUSINESS LEADERS
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper 
Presidential Candidate, All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (m); Former National Chairman, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomole (left); Board Member, Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Dr. Ayo Ogunsan (right); Executive Secretary/CEO, LSSTF, Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun (3rd right) and others during Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s meeting with business leaders and captains of industry at Eko hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Security is the lifeblood of business growth. Without adequate security, business cannot thrive.
For Lagos, the fifth largest economy in Africa and Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, business development has grown on the commitment and dexterity of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF). This is a public-private security financing which has become the mainstay of security in Lagos for almost 15 years.
When Lagos thrives, it is in our collective interest as a country, a continent, and the entire Black world. Lagos must be secured for it to succeed.
A cosmopolitan city with 9000 streets, 15 million residents, and about 87 persons entering per hour, Trek Africa Newspaper can affirm that Lagos is an international city.
LSSTF believes that whatever applies in New York, Paris, Tokyo, and other megacities, Lagos deserves it and more.
This is why the Executive Secretary/CEO of Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun and the Member of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Ayodele Ogunsan joined other business leaders and captains of industry in an all-important business meeting with the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the week.
Addressing the issue of security as a core of his presidential economic blueprint, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu noted: ‘I have saved the single most important point for last. May I conclude with my thoughts on security. We shall continue the fight against insecurity by redefining our counterinsurgency doctrine and practice. Our response to terror, kidnapping and violent criminality will be defined by the following elements: We shall enlist more people in the armed forces, security services and the police. Our forces will be given better tactical communications, mobility as well as improved aerial and ground surveillance capacity. Through these and other measures, we shall better identify, monitor, track, and defeat these evil groups where they are. They shall have no respite until they surrender or are utterly defeated.’
Merging his success story as Lagos Governor in 1999-2007 with the presidential task ahead, Asiwaju noted: ‘Lagos is an appropriate venue for this meeting. You may have heard that I was once governor of this dynamic economic force. However, may I remind you that when I first entered office, Lagos was a different story. My team and I developed a blueprint, a master plan, for Lagos. I can say that plan has been largely successful. We turned this state into a safer, more prosperous place where people can go about any legitimate vocation or venture regardless of their ethnicity, religion, region or prior social station. We did more than open Lagos for business. We opened the door for all Nigeria to join and experience the decent things progressive democratic governance can bring. We were not perfect but we did a lot. In doing so, we worked hand in hand with the business community as partners sharing the same goals of prosperity and renewed hope.’
‘Nigeria stands at the threshold between indifference and greatness, prosperity and poverty, the future and the past. The door is ajar. Together, let us open it so that we may cross over to the better side and secure for this beloved nation its finer destiny. The productive and beneficial things we seek do not lie in the sole domain of one sector. They reside in the cooperation between government and the private sector. I see no conflict between the business community and government. Yet, with equal conviction, I believe the private sector and government should constantly be at war. But they wage this battle not as enemies. They must stand as inseparable allies combating the mutual enemies of scarcity, underdevelopment, joblessness and the fear these bad things breed. The pragmatic problem solving and teamwork that improved Lagos, I want to bring to this nation. I ask your help as the task ahead is doable but also difficult, Trek Africa Newspaper gathered.
Corroborating his principal, Tinubu’s running mate, Sen. Kashim Shettima affirmed the gross importance of Nigeria to the Black race, ‘The respect the black man gets across the world is connected to the performance of Nigeria. We are not promising you heaven and earth, we are promising a hope for a better tomorrow’ noting that they intend to build Nigeria into an institution where the talents of humans are harnessed into greatness.
The town hall session had in attendance the political class including Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Simon Bako Lalong who is also the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku Bagudu, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, Abubakar Badaru, Dapo Abiodun, Adegboyega Oyetola, Nasir El-Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje as well as other party leaders and chieftains.
Corporate Nigeria was fully represented by the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia, Chairman of Zenith Bank, Tony Elumelu, Chairman of UBA, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, former Chief Executive of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, Group Chief Executive of Access Bank and other business leaders representing sectoral groups such as agriculture, Oil and Gas, Trade, Manufacturing, creative Sector among others.
