Hakeem Muri-Okunola, the 21st Head of Service (HoS) of Lagos State, clocks 48 yesterday.

Muri-Okunola was appointed on December 29, 2018, and sworn-in at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja. Until his appointment as HoS, Muri-Okunola was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.

HMO, as he is fondly addressed, began his fast rise through the rungs of public career at Ibile Holdings, an investment arm of the Lagos State Government. The first son of the late respected Justice Muritala Okunola caught the eye of then Lagos governor Bola Tinubu and the latter made him his personal assistant. Hakeem’s upward trajectory landed him as a permanent secretary deployed to the Lagos State Lands Bureau in 2011.