It is a remarkable coincidence that the 14th governor of Lagos state since Nigeria’s independence, Akinwunmi Ambode, was born on June 14.
This also means that each year, two days after the Democracy Day celebration, June 12, Ambode celebrates his birthday.
Early life
Ambode was born on June 14, 1963, in Epe General Hospital into the family of Festus Akinwale Ambode and Christianah Oluleye Ambode as one of their 10 children.
Education
From 1969 to 1974, young Ambode attended St. Jude’s Primary School in Ebute Metta area of Lagos state where he sat for the National Common Entrance Examinations.
After his secondary school education at Federal Government College, Warri, Delta state from 1974 to 1981, Ambode returned to Lagos to study Accounting at the University of Lagos and graduated at the very young age of 21. He later bagged a Master’s degree from the same institution and qualified as a chartered accountant not long after.
To further his studies, he left Nigeria for the United States to attend the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for the Advanced Management Programme.
Other institutions he attended for courses and programmes include:
- Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England
- Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland
- INSEAD, Singapore
- John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Career in civil service
Before running for the governorship seat in 2015, Ambode had served the state government as a civil servant for 27 years.
Apart from working as a financial consultant, Ambode held the following offices in the finance department of the state government in various local government areas and levels:
- Assistant treasurer – Badagry LGA (1988 to 1991)
- Auditor – Shomolu LGA (1991)
- Council Treasurer – Shomolu LGA
- Council Treasurer – Alimosho LGA
- Acting Auditor-General for Local Government (2001)
- Permanent Secretary – Lagos State Ministry of Finance
- Accountant General – Lagos State (2006 – 2012)
Political career
Three years after retiring from civil service, Ambode decided to join the gubernatorial race in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and defeated his opponent, Jimi Agbaje, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to become governor.
However, during the APC governorship primary election in 2018, Ambode lost to Babajide Sanwo-Olu and eventually endorsed him, leading to a smooth transition.
Some achievements of Ambode’s administration
Some major achievements the Ambode-led government recorded are as follows:
- Roads/Light Up Lagos Project – In 2016, Ambode’s government embarked on massive road construction and reconstruction. Before the end of his tenure, he completed the ‘114 Roads’ project where each of the 57 local councils in the state got two good roads. His administration saw to it that at least 365 streets across the state were lit up. Notable among the roads his administration reconstructed are the Oshodi-Airport road, the Oshodi Transport Interchange Road and Kolawole Shonibare Road which largely reduced traffic gridlock at Oke-Afa junction.
- Security – Just months after he came into office, Ambode acquired 10 armoured tanks, three helicopters for aerial surveillance and policing, two gunboats, 15 armoured personnel carriers, and many Isuzu trucks. Although the state still had challenges in the area of security at the time, the safety of lives and property of Lagosians under Ambode received a significant boost.
- ETF – In 2016, Ambode began the disbursement of the N25 billion Employment Trust Fund (ETF), a campaign promise he made back in 2015. The initiative led to the disbursement of N6.25 billion annually until the end of his administration. The fund was used to empower carpenters, tailors, hairdressers, vulcanisers, and other players in the informal sector of the state.
- LAKE Rice – Still in 2016, Lagos launched the Lagos-Kebbi (LAKE) Rice. At the time, residents trooped to various centres across the three senatorial districts in the state to buy the grains which sold for N12,000 (50kg bag), N6,000 (25kg), and N2,500 (10kg).
- IGR – 2016 was a year Lagos generated a figure ranked among its highest-ever internal revenue. That year, the state raked in N287 billion in IGR, which was N19 billion more than was generated in 2015. It was gathered that a revival of the state’s revenue generation agency under Ambode was partly responsible for this impressive record.
- Lagos Countdown – The carnival, renamed One Lagos Fiesta by the Ambode administration is an annual New Year’s Eve event at the Bar Beach in Lagos. The event lasts for 21–23 days and traditionally begins on the 7th or 8 December and lasts through January 1 of the new year. The event boosted tourism and the state’s IGR as Organised Private Sector (OPS) was also involved in the planning and funding.
