The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara State for the 2023 general election, Alhaji Hakeem Oladimeji Lawal, has restated his commitment to restore the fortune of the North Central state and bring it back to the path of progress and prosperity.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the SDP candidate said that the dynamics of the present realities demand that things must be done differently to get refreshing results that would positively affect the lives of the people.
Alhaji Lawal also said that his three-point agenda of infrastructural development, industrialization, and human capital development stands as the primary foundation on which he intends to build his administration should he be elected the next governor of the state.
Meanwhile, in order to secure a solid financial base for the state, the SDP candidate projected a revenue target of about N10 billion from the current N2 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.
“What our administration would do is block all loopholes, reduce activities of consultants in revenue generation and motivate staff of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS). This will help the state accrue more revenue because consultants will only take a percentage of want they collect. We will also improve staff welfare and reward excellent performance by civil servants.
“And when it comes to taxation, we realized that every single civil servant gets taxed, but the private sector is not being taxed sufficiently. Why? This must be corrected”.
On education and human capital development, he said that he will provide a solution for the people of Kwara State on the basis of education.
“It means we must revive our Technical Schools and Colleges. As of today, our people can hardly compete when it comes to technical know-how. If you look at the Building Industry, for instance, many of the professionals competing there are from places like the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, etc.
“In order for us to move forward and regain the glory of the past, we must first begin to re-assess ourselves and set up the same modules across these areas. It has worked for us in the past and must work for us again”, he said.
Also speaking at the event, Architect Kale Belgore, the Director-General (Operations) of the SDP Campaign Council, emphasized that the party remained the only credible alternative for Kwarans in the present circumstances.
According to him, “the ‘O to ge’ revolution of 2019 that enthroned the present administration in the state was a collective struggle, but regrettably, we are on a different lane today. We are lucky to have Lawal and the party took the right decision to field Lawal because he was born and bred in Ilorin and a proud son of Kwara”.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then