Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (born 25 June 1968) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

politician and the current

Governor of Lagos State The governor of Lagos State is the head of government of Lagos State in Nigeria. The governor leads the executive branch of the Lagos State Government. This position places its holder in leadership of the state with command authority over th ...

. He became governor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress after contesting and unexpectedly winning the gubernatorial primaries under the All Progressives Congress against incumbent

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Akinwunmi Ambode Akinwunmi Ambode (born 14 June 1963) is a Nigerian politician who served as Governor of Lagos State from 2015 to 2019. He was a civil servant for 27 years and a financial consultant before running for public office. Ambode ran for office of t ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 states, it is both the most populous and smallest in area. Bounded to the south by the Bight of Benin and to the west by the international border with Ben ...

in October 2019. He is a graduate of the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

, as well as the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

, Lagos Business School and the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

. Before his

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

ambition, he was the managing director and CEO of Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSPDC).

Education

Sanwo-Olu has a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Surveying and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

. He is an alumnus of the

, the

and the Lagos Business School. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) and fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Training and Development (NITAD).

Career

Banking

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was the treasurer at former Lead Merchant Bank from 1994 to 1997 after which he moved to the

United Bank for Africa United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) is a Multinational pan-African financial services group headquartered in Lagos and known as Africa’s Global Bank. It has subsidiaries in 20 African countries and offices in London, Paris and New York. In Dece ...

as the head of foreign money market. He then proceeded to First Inland Bank, Plc (now

First City Monument Bank First City Monument Bank (FCMB), a member of FCMB Group Plc, is a financial services holding company headquartered in Lagos. FCMB Group Plc has nine subsidiaries divided among three business groups: commercial and retail banking, investment ban ...

) as a deputy general manager and divisional head. He was the chairman of Baywatch Group Limited and First Class Group Limited.

Public service

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu began his political career in 2003, when he was appointed a Special Adviser on Corporate Matters to the then deputy governor of Lagos State, Femi Pedro. He was later made the acting Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget until 2007, when he was appointed as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry by then Governor,

Bola Tinubu Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu (born 29 March 1952) is a Nigerian accountant and politician who served as the Governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and Senator for Lagos West during the brief Third Republic. In June 2022, he was chosen as th ...

. After the General Elections of 2007, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was appointed Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions by Governor

Babatunde Fashola Babatunde Raji Fashola ( yo, Bàbátúndé Rájí Fáṣọlá; born 28 June 1963) is a Nigerian lawyer and politician currently serving as the Federal Minister of Works and Housing of Nigeria. He served two terms as Governor of Lagos State f ...

. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was made Managing Director/CEO of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) by Governor

in 2016. Some of his notable public sector achievements include the supervision of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) privatization projects. He set up and was the Pioneer Board Chairman of Lagos Security Trust Fund. The LAGBUS System and the Control & Command Centre in Alausa

Ikeja Ikeja is the capital city of Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. Its population, as of the 2006 census, is 313,196. Prior to the emergence of military rule in the early 1980s, Ikeja was a well planned, clean and quiet residential and commercia ...

were subsequently established under his directives.

Politics

On 16 September 2018, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu formally declared his intention to run for the office of the governor of Lagos State under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) making him a major contender to the incumbent governor

. His declaration attracted endorsements from major stakeholders in Lagos State politics; including the Governor’s Advisory Council of the Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress and members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, which led to withdrawal of Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress APC in Lagos from the gubernatorial race. He won the Lagos

primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 2 October 2018. At the APC flag-off campaign rally held on 8 January 2019, Governor of

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

, and 63 political parties lent their support for the candidacy of Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu. In a landslide victory over his opponent,

Jimi Agbaje Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje (popularly known as Jimi Agbaje or JK; born 2 March 1957), is a Nigerian Pharmacist, and Politician. He was the 2015 PDP's Lagos State Governorship candidate, but he lost out to the eventual winner Akinwunmi Ambode. He ...

, Sanwo-Olu was elected to the Office of Governor of

at the 2019 General elections for Lagos State which held on 9 March 2019. He was sworn in as the 15th Governor of Lagos State at the

Tafawa Balewa Square The Tafawa Balewa Square, (TBS) is a ceremonial ground (originally called "Race Course") in Lagos Island, Lagos. History Lagos Race Course now TBS, was a sports field that hosted horse racing, but included a section for football and ground t ...

(TBS) Lagos Island on Wednesday May 29, 2019. He has been working on different development activities, one of which is road construction across major areas in Lagos state. Recently, Sanwo-olu asked that the statue of Fela Kuti that was erected by

be removed from Allen Avenue in

as he to ease the situation of traffic in that area. However, the statue is said to be relocated to a more convenient area in

Lagos state Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 states, it is both the most populous and smallest in area. Bounded to the south by the Bight of Benin and to the west by the international border with Ben ...

. The Governor commissioned the Oshodi - Abule-Egba BRT Lane amongst other projects in 2020.

Awards

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has obtained a variety of awards in his career, some of which include: * Platinum award from the Lagos State Public Service Club. * 2009 Best in Human Capital Development award from the Industrial Training Fund (ITF). * Merit award from the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria. *Merit award from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria (CIPMN). * Merit Award from the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN). *LSDPC Impactful Leadership and Recognition Award. * Media Nite-Out Award for Best Governor of the Year (2020).

Personal life

Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu is married to Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanwo-Olu, Babajide Politicians from Lagos 1965 births Living people Yoruba politicians University of Lagos alumni Governors of Lagos State Harvard Kennedy School alumni Alumni of London Business School All Progressives Congress politicians People from Lagos State Nigerian Pentecostals Lagos Business School alumni