ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Lagos State, Olajide ‘Jandor’ Adediran, has disclosed his plans for the state.
The governorship candidate said he will work on reforms in housing and road infrastructure, education, healthcare, and improve ease of doing business, among other issues.
In his speech, he noted that his party is not beckoned to serve or railroaded into a project they have no knowledge of. “This journey started exactly seven years ago, after a detailed appraisal of the performance of successive governments in the State of Lagos from 1999,” he said.
He seized the opportunity to solicit for the votes and support of the Lagos residents in the 2023 governorship election.
Jandor expressed optimism that the state will be fair better when well-meaning stakeholders graduate from armchair criticism of the systemic decadence to becoming active players by throwing their hats into the ring to salvage the state.
He also expressed hope that the party is set to make Lagos work better in the interest of all residents by decentralizing development to all parts of the state and ensuring that the flow of the wealth of the state is redirected from the pockets of an individual to the benefit of all.
The speech reads: “We are very intentional about our vision of birthing a true Mega City led by a servant leader who is truly independent and will not need a second level of approval before taking decisions. The power will truly reside with the people and not an individual pretending to be a demi-god.
“We will make Lagos truly WEALTHY by giving a breath of fresh air in the area of Works & Infrastructure, Education & Environment, Aquaculture & ease of doing business, Law & Order, Transportation & Traffic management, Health & Housing, Youth & Women empowerment, and other critical areas of governance.”
He regretted that endemic corruption is one of the biggest problems stagnating the development of our state, we will bring on financial re-engineering through critical reforms that will fast-track operational processes and plug financial leakages in the public service. We will hit the ground running.
He said: “We are bewildered that over 2 million of our children are out of school. We are pained to see our people suffer so much to access very basic healthcare services. We are ashamed of the poor state of infrastructure and the widening gap in infrastructure deficit.
“We are not comfortable that our State’s wealth is only on paper, nothing significant is on the ground to justify the humongous revenue generation, including our local and foreign borrowings to fund budget deficit, year on year.
“Every time we think we have seen the worst, somehow, the ones we handed our dear state will always find a way to outdo themselves in how bad things can get.
“For 23 years, they have rewarded the love of the people with so little. We are the wealthiest state in Nigeria, yet 66% of Lagos residents still live in slums.
“It is better to imagine and never experience another four years of no real solution to waking up at 4am everyday because of the awful traffic across Lagos metropolis. Or four more years of being scared to stop at traffic lights for fear of traffic robbers?
“Our focus is to change the face of governance in Lagos and make it a WEALTHY State in truth as against it current status of being a wealthy state only on paper.
“Our Agenda for a WEALTHY Lagos, is a TREAT everyone deserves. This agenda has been outlined as follows; W – Works, Housing & Road Infrastructure. E – Education. A – Aquaculture & Ease of Doing Business. L – Law, Order & Security. T – Tourism, Transport & Traffic Management, H – Health & Environment. Y – Youth, Women & Social Development.
Jandor also said any serious government will take the education of its children very seriously.
He said if elected, he would declare a state of emergency in all education sector and proceed to make primary and secondary education completely free and compulsory, by providing free school uniforms and learning aids to all pupils in our primary and secondary schools.
To achieve this, he revealed that he would boost the economy, especially the earning power of the locals all at a cost no more than N24b in a fiscal year.