Fashola was chief of staff to his predecessor,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Fashola, had during his tenure as Chief of Staff, also served as the Honourable Commissioner to the Governor's office. He was the first person to hold both offices simultaneously. Babatunde Fashola also served in Lagos state in various capacities, including: • Secretary of the Lands Sub-Committee of the Transitional Work Groups- 1999. • Member of the panel of Enquiry into allocation of houses on the Mobolaji Johnson Housing Scheme at Lekki.- 2000. • Member of the State Tenders Board- 2002– 2006. • Member of the
Lagos State Executive Council-2002-2006. • Member of the
State Security Council-2002-2006 • Member of the State Treasury Board-2002-2006 • Chairman Ad-Hoc Committee on the Review of Asset distribution among Local Government. •
Minister of Power, Works and Housing 2015-2019 • Minister of Works and Housing 2019 to date
Governor of Lagos state As the candidate of the
Action Congress party (now the
All Progressives Congress party) Fashola succeeded Tinubu as governor of Lagos State on 14 April 2007. Fashola was re-elected on 26 April 2011.
Lagos infrastructural regeneration Fashola focused on the rehabilitation of Lagos' infrastructures. These infrastructures had been neglected for years after Abuja was declared the new capital of Nigeria in 1991. The modernisation of Lagos, which Tinubu had begun, accelerated under Fashola's governorship. Both the private and public sectors were involved in the realisation of the project.
Bus Rapid Transit Fashola introduced air-conditioned city buses, the
BRT buses, for which dedicated lanes were constructed.
Suburban railway Fashola initiated the construction of the Lagos Light Rail, the commuter rail of Lagos, the first two lines of which are scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2022 (as of January 2022). The "Blue Line" of the suburban railway at the National Theatre
Highways On assuming office, Fashola embarked on a major overhaul of the city's main highways. At the same time, major reconstruction works took place almost everywhere in Lagos. The result was that the Lagos metropolis took on a new look in the first four years of his tenure. Most major roads were redesigned and re-painted. New roads were built with flyover bridges. Ultra-modern footbridges were built to replace the old, dilapidated bridges.
Education The Fashola government ensured reinstatement and establishment of well-equipped new classrooms, distribution of free textbooks, provision of well-equipped workrooms and libraries, provision of buses for teachers and students to facilitate transportation, reinstatement of uniformed voluntary administrators in public schools in the state, introduction of a salary scale for teachers in public schools in the state, development of the Adopt a School Initiative and others. The schools that have been repaired include: Ikotun Senior High School, Alimosho Girls High School, Agege Okemagba Junior High School, Mojoda Amuwo Senior Grammar School and Tomia Community Secondary School, Alagbado.
City beautification In October 2009, Fashola inaugurated a garden in honour of the late Professor Ayodele Awojobi at Onike Roundabout, Yaba, Lagos, in the middle of which a statue of the famous academic was placed. Artists like
Oladejo Victor Akinlonu were enlisted for beautification projects. The Eyo Masquerade and the bust of Sir Alexander Molade Okoya Thomas were commissioned by the governor.
Public security The Lagos State Security Trust Fund was established with aim of effectively and sustainably funding the security needs of the state.
Haiti earthquake fundraising Fashola launched an appeal to raise up to one million US dollars for the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. The funds raised were used to assist the victims.
Water safety In May 2014, Fashola announced the compulsory use of
life jackets on Lagos waterways.
Waste investigation In late January 2010, the Lagos State House of Assembly launched an investigation into possible waste of taxpayers' money by Fashola, mainly in connection with the ongoing Eko Atlantic City project. The allegations range from importation of palm trees from Niger for horticulture projects to improper use of contract money involving one of the Lagos State contractors. The group conducting the investigation was known as True Face of Lagos. The final reports were to be submitted on 15 February 2010. During his tenure, True Face of Lagos was later disbanded. Attempts were made to restart the investigation through a petition, but they were repeatedly rejected by the courts.
The fight against Ebola Three months after Ebola had first spread in the country when Patrick Sawyer, the infected US-Liberian citizen and ECOWAS official, brought in the virus through Lagos airport, Babatunde Raji Fashola was in office in September 2014 when Nigeria was officially declared free of Ebola. He is said to have taken control of tracking down and isolating about 1,000 people who were feared to have been infected since Sawyer's arrival. The Lagos governor cut short a pilgrimage to Mecca, flew home and then set up an Ebola Emergency Operations Centre to take on monitoring those who might be infected. A team of 2,000 officials was trained and ended up knocking on 26,000 doors. At one point, the governor was briefed by disease control experts up to ten times a day. He made a point of visiting the country's Ebola treatment centre to impress on the Nigerian public that they should not panic unnecessarily.
Completion of the "Second Niger Bridge" The Second Niger Bridge at Onitsha, which had been the subject of political debate since the 1980s was pushed forward under Fashola and was completed in 2023.
Completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway The renovation of the former "pothole test track" from the metropolis of Lagos to Nigeria's third largest city, Ibadan, has not yet been completed as at April 2026.
Other achievements Fashola is credited with work on: • The completed motorway between Lagos and Oworonshoki • The repair of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge • The completion of the motorway between the capital, Abuja, and Nigeria's second largest city, Kano. Eight hundred road contracts have been signed, he said. Currently, 13,000 km of roads are being rehabilitated and 37 bridges are being built. In the process, he says its budget has been slashed from 260 billion naira in 2015 (€1.17 billion at the time) to 234 billion naira in 2021 (€491 million). According to Fashola, "We are now doing a lot more with less resources." == Evaluation ==