By Mogaji Seye Oladejo
The recent engagement between Lagos governorship candidates and Millennials and Generation Z provides a useful opportunity to take a step back from the political noise and examine what was actually on display.
For me, the most important takeaway is that Lagos youths are no longer prepared to be passive spectators in the political process.
They are asking questions. They are demanding accountability. They want to know not only who wants to govern Lagos, but why, with what experience, with what team, with what resources and with what practical roadmap.
That is exactly how it should be.
Lagos is too complex, too strategic and too consequential to be governed by slogans, social-media popularity or the emotional appeal of political theatre.
The Lagos of today is a megacity with a rapidly expanding population, a sophisticated economy, complex transportation needs, housing pressures, environmental challenges, security concerns, technological opportunities and a private sector that requires a government capable of understanding and partnering with it.
The governorship of Lagos therefore demands more than ambition.
It demands experience, competence, capacity, vision and a demonstrable understanding of the Lagos project.
THE GENERATIONAL QUESTION
The interaction with Millennials and Gen Zs also exposes an important generational question.
Young Lagosians are rightly interested in jobs, technology, entrepreneurship, affordable housing, transportation, education, security, healthcare, digital governance and a cleaner environment.
But young people also deserve political leaders who understand that these aspirations cannot be delivered by rhetoric alone.
A government cannot create millions of sustainable opportunities merely by making promises on a campaign stage.
It requires investment.
It requires infrastructure.
It requires policy consistency.
It requires an enabling business environment.
It requires partnerships with the private sector.
It requires competent management.
And, above all, it requires a government that understands how Lagos works.
BEYOND THE SOCIAL-MEDIA POLITICS
One of the most interesting developments in contemporary politics is the growing influence of social media.
There is nothing wrong with that.
Indeed, technology has democratised political communication and given young people a much stronger voice.
But social-media visibility is not the same thing as governance capacity.
A viral video is not a development plan.
A hashtag is not a transport policy.
A beautifully produced campaign graphic is not a housing programme.
And eloquence on a television interview is not necessarily evidence of administrative competence.
The real question after every political engagement should therefore be:
What exactly is the candidate proposing, how will it be implemented, what will it cost, and what experience does the candidate bring to the table to make it happen?
That is the post-mortem that matters.
LAGOS NEEDS EXPERIENCE, NOT EXPERIMENTATION
Lagos has been fortunate to develop a governance template that has survived successive administrations while retaining a broad strategic direction.
That continuity is not accidental.
It has been built through years of institutional development, long-term planning and successive governments building upon existing foundations.
From transportation and infrastructure to the environment, urban renewal, security, technology, healthcare and the development of the state’s economic base, the Lagos story has been one of continuity combined with innovation.
The next governor will therefore not be starting with a blank sheet of paper.
He or she will inherit an enormous and complicated enterprise that requires someone who understands both its achievements and its unfinished business.
The question is not whether Lagos needs improvement. Of course it does.
Every successful city must continually reinvent itself.
The question is whether that reinvention should be undertaken by someone who understands the architecture of the Lagos project or whether the state should become an experiment in political improvisation.
THE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE WATCHING
The Millennials and Gen Zs who participated in the engagement are sophisticated enough to make their own judgments.
They are connected to the world.
They understand what is happening in Dubai, London, Singapore, New York, Kigali and other cities.
They are comparing Lagos with global standards and asking legitimate questions about why Lagos cannot do better.
We welcome that scrutiny.
In fact, government should welcome it.
But the same young people must also ask the difficult questions about sustainability.
Who will pay for these promises?
What are the constitutional responsibilities of the state?
What requires federal collaboration?
What can the private sector deliver?
What can technology realistically solve?
What can be achieved in four years?
What requires a decade of sustained implementation?
These are not cynical questions.
They are the questions of an informed electorate.
THE REAL TEST
The real test of the governorship contest should therefore not be who performed best before a microphone.
It should be who can best demonstrate an understanding of Lagos and present a credible pathway for taking the state to the next level.
Lagos does not need a governor who will spend four years discovering the problems.
Lagos needs a governor who understands the problems, knows the opportunities and has the capacity to mobilise the institutions, people and resources required to address them.
The state needs continuity where continuity is beneficial, innovation where innovation is necessary and courage where difficult decisions are unavoidable.
A MESSAGE TO OUR YOUNG LAGOSIANS
To the Millennials and Gen Zs of Lagos, my message is simple:
Ask questions. Demand evidence. Challenge every candidate. Reject empty slogans. Examine records. Compare programmes. Look beyond social-media impressions.
Most importantly, judge political ambition against demonstrated capacity.
Do not allow anyone to reduce your generation to an army of social-media warriors.
You are entrepreneurs, professionals, innovators, students, creatives, workers, investors and future leaders.
Your political participation must therefore go beyond cheering candidates.
Interrogate them.
Challenge them.
Listen to them.
And ultimately make your own informed judgment.
For those of us in the Lagos APC, we welcome that scrutiny because we believe that the record of Lagos governance provides a basis upon which the people can evaluate the future.
The Lagos project is bigger than any individual candidate.
It is bigger than any political party.
And it is certainly bigger than any campaign slogan.
The post-mortem of the engagement should therefore not be about who shouted the loudest, who generated the most social-media traffic or who received the loudest applause.
It should be about who demonstrated the clearest understanding of Lagos, the strongest capacity to govern and the most credible pathway to the Lagos that our young people deserve.
That is the conversation we should be having.
And that is the standard by which the 2027 Lagos governorship contest should be examined.
Mogaji Seye Oladejo, is
Lagos APC Spokesman
