Last Monday’s Stakeholders Engagement for Lagos State Youth was not the typical government event. The hall at L’eola Hotel in Ikeja was filled with an unusual energy as young Lagosians filled the seats. They had come to understand President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Initiatives” – but what they witnessed was something more inspiring. A masterclass in political translation. I can confirm to you authoritatively.

At the centre of it all stood Hon. Francis Tosin Shoga, neither borrowing importance nor flaunting connections. When he took the microphone, he didn’t speak in the knotty language of bureaucracy that often leaves youth, market women and aged ones more confused than informed. Instead, he spoke directly to the youth in words that landed with clarity and simplicity. He made the brimful hall understood the economic direction, social welfare and poverty reduction programmes, infrastructure and agriculture development and security.