Political Career
Femi Pedro was elected as Deputy Governor of Lagos State in April 2003, and was sworn-in alongside Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu the following month. He was recruited primarily due to his Economic background; but with time, he became renowned for his political sagacity by keen political observers in Lagos, Nigeria.
Femi Pedro is widely regarded as the bedrock of the economic revolution which Lagos (and Fashola in particular) enjoys today. In his years as the Deputy Governor, Pedro was appointed chairman of Lagos State Revenue Mobilization committee under which the Board of Inland Revenue, the Land Use Allocation Committee, and other revenue generating agencies reported and performed admirably. They embarked on an unprecedented and aggressive revenue drive, restructured, reorganized and re-engineered the Board of Inland Revenue. His wealth of experience in the banking sector came to fruition as he orchestrated the increase of Lagos State's Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from 300 Million Naira per month to a staggering 7 Billion Naira per month in the space of eight months. He was popularly referred to as 'Mr. Pedronomics', primarily due to his affinity towards micro and macro-economic policies.
Pedro also introduced and implemented the PSP and waste management model which is thriving in Lagos today.Femi Pedro was also in charge of conducting extensive research in Brazil with other cabinet members to study and understand the novel metropolitan bus transport system which resulted in the birth of the BRT. He was given the task of raising funds from the Afrexim Bank based in Cairo to purchase the red Marcopolo buses plying currently plying the streets of Lagos today. Consequently, he came up with the name LAGBUS and with the support of his staff, set up the structure in which the BRT is built upon today.
Aside from leading the Government Economic Team, Femi Pedro also championed the fight against the Federal Government regarding the withheld Local Government Funds in 2003. During the course of his term in office, he was awarded the Yoruba aristocratic title of Otunba by the people of his native Lagos.
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