Adediran (Jandor)
As campaigns for the 2023 general elections commence nationwide, the Governorship Candidate of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (JANDOR), has rolled out his vision for the state if elected into office next year, saying that he was very intentional of birthing a true Mega City and a Lagos that is truly WEALTHY on account of his 7- point Agenda.
The PDP governorship candidate made this known on Tuesday at a press briefing, saying his government would make Lagos truly WEALTHY by giving a breath of fresh air in the area of Works and Infrastructure, Education and Environment, Aquaculture and ease of doing business, Law and Order, Transportation and Traffic Management, Health and Housing, Youth and Women empowerment, among others.
This was just as Adediran, who through his 5- page document containing his programmes, said he was not beckoned to serve or railroaded into a project of which he had little knowledge, disclosing that the dream to serve Lagos was a journey started exactly seven years ago, after a detailed appraisal of the performance of successive governments in the state of Lagos from 1999, adding: “We are convinced that our state will 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.”
“Our focus is to change the face of governance in Lagos and make it a WEALTHY State in truth as against its 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.
“Blueprints are only as good as the excellence in implementation. As part of our plans to ensure that we deliver on the promise of a WEALTHY Lagos, we will be guided by the following pillars; Tech-driven approach to governance; Rule of Law; Equity & Inclusiveness; Accountable Representation and; Transparency (TREAT).
“We are 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.
“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,” he said.
The PDP chieftain, while noting that the experience of an average resident of Lagos State across the 5 IBILE divisions in the 20 Local Governments since 1999 left much to be desired, however, assured that things could be better, and lives “much easier when altruism, transparent honesty, accountability, and empathy govern the conduct of public officeholders.”
Adediran, while identifying endemic corruption as one of the biggest problems stagnating the development of the state, further assured that he would hit the ground running by bringing on financial re-engineering through critical reforms that would fast-track operational processes and plug financial leakages in the public service if voted as next governor of Lagos.
On the transportation hiccup, the PDP governorship candidate said the key to resolving the perennial problem was to identify flash points, get root causes and be deliberate about resolving them, either by providing the necessary infrastructure such as expanding the roads or constructing bridges to free up intersections and more importantly, by instilling discipline on the roads.
Adediran said sadly that it was better to imagine and never experience another four years of no real solution to waking up at 4 am every day 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, declared that he was resolved also to lead by example and provide real leadership by ensuring that “the acclaimed huge Lagos revenue that we only hear is no longer ‘audio.'”
According to him, such revenue will be deployed to aggressively repair all existing state roads, building iconic bridges that will give Lagos the facelift as a mega city of repute, saying that the private sector would be involved in project financing via Public-Private Partnerships such as build operate and transfer (BOT) and other concessions, but with the interest of Lagosians at the centre of it all.
On education, the PDP chieftain lamented the situation where he said over 2 million children were out of school, describing the development as bewildering.
He said his administration if voted into office, would take the education of the children very seriously by declaring a state of emergency in the sector and proceeding to make primary and secondary education completely free and compulsory.
Besides, the PDP governorship candidate said free school uniforms and learning aids to all pupils in primary and secondary schools would be provided, just as he noted that the majority of these children were out of school because their parents were unable to afford ancillary school requirements such as uniforms and learning aids that were presently not part of the free education scheme of the current administration in the state.
“These uniforms will be produced by local tailors in all local governments. This means local tailors within Ikeja Local Government will sew uniforms for all pupils and students schooling within the confines of Ikeja Local Government.
“This way, we would also have succeeded in boosting the economy, especially the earning power of the locals all at a cost no more than N24b in a fiscal year,” he said.
“Another reason for having over 2 million out-of-school children in Lagos is lack of infrastructure and human resources…our immediate plan would be to first go into partnership with private schools and ensure these children are admitted and spread across the over 18,000 private schools in Lagos, among which only 5,000 are registered, in exchange for tax incentives while we embark on infrastructural renewal and upgrades in our public schools.
“We will address the shortage of school teachers by being the first to implement the 65years retirement age and 40 years of service. We will also bring back those that have been retired since the signing of this law to complete their years of service,” he added.
On healthcare, Adediran decried what he termed the unpalatable experience of patients littering the premises of general hospitals across the state “in the name of no hospital beds to accommodate them,” promising that his government, pending when it will provide adequate infrastructure, embark on the automation of all healthcare facilities in Lagos, in both public and private “to ensure that no hospital transfers any patient to the general hospital until the such facility has successfully secured a bed space for such patient and we will also eradicate reception areas at all Emergency Units.”
“This way, we would have succeeded in ridding the premises of our general hospitals of littering patients and saving more lives. In addition to this, health insurance will be made compulsory and available to the less privileged and vulnerable for free, to improve access and affordability,” Adediran said.
“On flooding, our administration will declare a state of emergency on our environment, with regular de-silting, clearing of collectors and primary channels in preparation for the rainy season and we will be bold to take tough decisions in the interest of the generality of Lagosians by enforcing environmental sanitation laws. We will work closely with the Metrological agency to plan ahead by giving utmost attention to areas that are prone to flood,” he added.
Dr Adediran said the PDP- led administration would be deliberate about Ease of Doing Business by providing enabling environment to players in the economy of Lagos both at the formal and informal sectors, adding that the government headed by him would restore the hope of marketmen and women to make sure no one harasses or extorts them “and we won’t take away their means of livelihood for a day, by closing any market in Lagos under whatever guise.”
The main opposition governorship candidate, while further lamenting what he termed the poor state of infrastructure and the widening gap in infrastructure deficit, which he said he was ashamed of, noted that it was common knowledge that the good people of Lagos were just enduring the remaining days of the incumbent government, declaring that he was signing a social contract with Lagosians to serve them “with the skillfulness of our hands and the integrity of our hearts.”
“We know that you, the good people of Lagos are just enduring the remaining days of the incumbent government. We are signing a social contract with you to serve you with the skillfulness of our hands and the integrity of our hearts. We will reach out to every Lagosian, and walk through each of the 245 political wards and 13,325 polling units across the 20 Local Government Areas of the state to seek your vote and your support for Funke and I, on March 11, 2023 date for the governorship election and all other candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party for the legislative offices.
“We will continue to communicate our plans to you in the coming days as we solicit your feedback from time to time on this project of our mutual interest,” he said.
“I am not here to make promises that are not achievable but with your mandate, our vision is to transform Lagos into a functional, prosperous and secure state that will deliver the promise of making Lagos work for all,” he assured.
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