The One-day Governor
Mojeed Musikilu And Lewis Asubiojo
TheNEWS, July 15, 2002
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu stepped aside for a 16-year-old SS3 student, Otiti Ovuewhorie, who excelled in a spelling competition, to rule Lagos for one day.
23 July, 2002 was a day of executive drama in Lagos. As it happened last year, the state executive governor stepped aside to allow 16-year-old Otiti Jasmil Ovuewhorie 'pilot' the affairs of the complex state for just one day.
Ovuewhorie, a Senior Secondary Student of Lagos State Model College, became eligible to govern Lagos for a day after she emerged winner of this year's Spelling Bee competition for secondary schools in Lagos, organised by New Era Foundation, a pet project of Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the state governor.
So, Ovuewhorie and her 7-man 'cabinet' took charge of Lagos at 11.00 a.m. prompt. The entire event was theatrical, yet significant. Ovuewhorie rode in the executive governor's Lexus jeep and arrived the Lagos State secretariat in a convoy. She immediately dashed into the Oval office of the governor and took seat at Tinubu's desk.
Shortly afterwards, Senator Ahmed Tinubu, acting the role of an ordinary citizen of Lagos, came calling in company with some Lagos 'Chiefs'. And he rolled out a bagful of what they want done in Lagos. Tinubu complained that traffic situation in Lagos is becoming unbearable and that something urgent needed to be done to alleviate the suffering in Lagos. He also talked about the degenerating refuse disposal procedure in the state despite the existence of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency and pleaded that the one-day governor act urgently to redress the situation.
Ovuewhorie also acted her role well as she promised Tinubu that she would do everything possible to address his complaints, but advised him to appeal to some residents of Lagos who were in the habit of erecting gates around communities and blocking access roads. She also urged Tinubu to educate his people to develop a sense of hygiene and pay their taxes regularly.
Thereafter, the one-day governor paid a visit to the corporate headquarters of Cadbury Nigeria Plc., where she was received by the management team of the company. In appreciation of their reception and gift, Ovuewhorie promised to continue to create the enabling environment for the private sector to operate and prosper. She later went on a tour of Gbagada Grammar School where she advised her peers to take their studies seriously and promised to help to continue to improve facilities in schools.
But by far the most significant of the one-day governor's itinerary was her visit to Dolphin Estate in Lagos. Dolphin Estate has for a long time been a subject of controversy between the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government. Whenever it rains, Dolphin Estate gets flooded. The Lagos State Government awarded the contract for the channelisation of the area to allow for the construction of drainages that will deflood Ikoyi and Obalende. But the Federal Government has stalled the project, arguing that the plots of land through which the drainages will pass have been allocated to individuals. All pleas to the Federal Government to allow overriding public interest to prevail and shift ground have so far failed.
So, the Lagos State Government used 16-year-old Ovuewhorie to make a strong statement. At her visit to a terribly flooded Dolphin Estate, she declared, "Why should the people continue to suffer because the land has been allocated to some people? Why should the Federal Government and its agent continue to subject people to this kind of misery? Why can't the Federal Government allow public interest to prevail?
I am calling on the Federal Government to allow the channelisation of Dolphin Estate." On her return to Alausa, Ovuewhorie presided over a mock executive meeting, where serious state matters were discussed.
The one-day governor's reign is significant. It was meant to reward excellence and hardwork. It is the belief of the New Era Foundation that youths who excel should be celebrated in order to ginger their peers to hardwork. And it was easy to notice both admiration and envy in the eyes of Ovuewhorie's age mates wherever she went.
Ovuewhorie was merely reaping the reward of her hardwork. A bookworm of some sort, those who know her say she has voracious appetite for books and reading.
An aspiring medical doctor, Ovuewhorie has never disappointed academically. Her principal, Mr. Bashir Adebowale Gbadamosi, said that she had always been a girl with a great promise. He described the Delta-born prodigy as a peace-loving girl who always strife for excellence and discipline.
This description showed clearly in Ovuewhorie's outing during her one-day reign. Her facial expression was that of seriousness. She listened to complaints and comments with rapt attention and her response to such comments were sharp, mature and on the target. She was not a disappointment.
Ovuewhorie did not however run Lagos alone. She had in her cabinet Abudu Omolola of Lagos State Model College, Badore (Commissioner for Transport); Osuntoyinbo Muyiwa Pius of Ojodu Grammar School (Commissioner for Works); Ope Modinat of Lagos Model College, Badore (Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning); Dayo Israel-Abdulai (Commissioner for Information); Bolanle Ajata (Commissioner for Women Affairs); Abiru Bukola (Secretary to the State Government) and Gbadamosi Oluwatobi (Commissioner for Home Affairs).
By the time you are reading this, their tenure would have ended, but Ovuewhorie and her cabinet would have made history as the shortest government Lagos has produced, a record they share with the Chukwuebuka Anusiobi-led government which also reigned for one day last year.
TheNEWS, July 15, 2002
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu stepped aside for a 16-year-old SS3 student, Otiti Ovuewhorie, who excelled in a spelling competition, to rule Lagos for one day.
23 July, 2002 was a day of executive drama in Lagos. As it happened last year, the state executive governor stepped aside to allow 16-year-old Otiti Jasmil Ovuewhorie 'pilot' the affairs of the complex state for just one day.
Ovuewhorie, a Senior Secondary Student of Lagos State Model College, became eligible to govern Lagos for a day after she emerged winner of this year's Spelling Bee competition for secondary schools in Lagos, organised by New Era Foundation, a pet project of Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the state governor.
So, Ovuewhorie and her 7-man 'cabinet' took charge of Lagos at 11.00 a.m. prompt. The entire event was theatrical, yet significant. Ovuewhorie rode in the executive governor's Lexus jeep and arrived the Lagos State secretariat in a convoy. She immediately dashed into the Oval office of the governor and took seat at Tinubu's desk.
Shortly afterwards, Senator Ahmed Tinubu, acting the role of an ordinary citizen of Lagos, came calling in company with some Lagos 'Chiefs'. And he rolled out a bagful of what they want done in Lagos. Tinubu complained that traffic situation in Lagos is becoming unbearable and that something urgent needed to be done to alleviate the suffering in Lagos. He also talked about the degenerating refuse disposal procedure in the state despite the existence of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency and pleaded that the one-day governor act urgently to redress the situation.
Ovuewhorie also acted her role well as she promised Tinubu that she would do everything possible to address his complaints, but advised him to appeal to some residents of Lagos who were in the habit of erecting gates around communities and blocking access roads. She also urged Tinubu to educate his people to develop a sense of hygiene and pay their taxes regularly.
Thereafter, the one-day governor paid a visit to the corporate headquarters of Cadbury Nigeria Plc., where she was received by the management team of the company. In appreciation of their reception and gift, Ovuewhorie promised to continue to create the enabling environment for the private sector to operate and prosper. She later went on a tour of Gbagada Grammar School where she advised her peers to take their studies seriously and promised to help to continue to improve facilities in schools.
But by far the most significant of the one-day governor's itinerary was her visit to Dolphin Estate in Lagos. Dolphin Estate has for a long time been a subject of controversy between the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government. Whenever it rains, Dolphin Estate gets flooded. The Lagos State Government awarded the contract for the channelisation of the area to allow for the construction of drainages that will deflood Ikoyi and Obalende. But the Federal Government has stalled the project, arguing that the plots of land through which the drainages will pass have been allocated to individuals. All pleas to the Federal Government to allow overriding public interest to prevail and shift ground have so far failed.
So, the Lagos State Government used 16-year-old Ovuewhorie to make a strong statement. At her visit to a terribly flooded Dolphin Estate, she declared, "Why should the people continue to suffer because the land has been allocated to some people? Why should the Federal Government and its agent continue to subject people to this kind of misery? Why can't the Federal Government allow public interest to prevail?
I am calling on the Federal Government to allow the channelisation of Dolphin Estate." On her return to Alausa, Ovuewhorie presided over a mock executive meeting, where serious state matters were discussed.
The one-day governor's reign is significant. It was meant to reward excellence and hardwork. It is the belief of the New Era Foundation that youths who excel should be celebrated in order to ginger their peers to hardwork. And it was easy to notice both admiration and envy in the eyes of Ovuewhorie's age mates wherever she went.
Ovuewhorie was merely reaping the reward of her hardwork. A bookworm of some sort, those who know her say she has voracious appetite for books and reading.
An aspiring medical doctor, Ovuewhorie has never disappointed academically. Her principal, Mr. Bashir Adebowale Gbadamosi, said that she had always been a girl with a great promise. He described the Delta-born prodigy as a peace-loving girl who always strife for excellence and discipline.
This description showed clearly in Ovuewhorie's outing during her one-day reign. Her facial expression was that of seriousness. She listened to complaints and comments with rapt attention and her response to such comments were sharp, mature and on the target. She was not a disappointment.
Ovuewhorie did not however run Lagos alone. She had in her cabinet Abudu Omolola of Lagos State Model College, Badore (Commissioner for Transport); Osuntoyinbo Muyiwa Pius of Ojodu Grammar School (Commissioner for Works); Ope Modinat of Lagos Model College, Badore (Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning); Dayo Israel-Abdulai (Commissioner for Information); Bolanle Ajata (Commissioner for Women Affairs); Abiru Bukola (Secretary to the State Government) and Gbadamosi Oluwatobi (Commissioner for Home Affairs).
By the time you are reading this, their tenure would have ended, but Ovuewhorie and her cabinet would have made history as the shortest government Lagos has produced, a record they share with the Chukwuebuka Anusiobi-led government which also reigned for one day last year.
