By Chukwudi Nweje
Governorship candidate of BOOT Party ─ (Because of Our Tomorrow) ─ in Lagos State, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, Tuesday, stated that he would end the secrecy and unaccountability in the governance of the state if elected governor next year,
Oluwo, who in May this year aspired for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) noted that the APC administration in Lagos State had held the state in the stranglehold of an individual in the last 23 years, even as governance had been secretive, and lacking in accountability.
He vowed that if elected governor in 2023 that he would ensure transparency in governance by domesticating the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act to allow the public access to scrutinise the finances of the state.
Oluwo stated this during the inauguration of BOOT Party Solution Series, a weekly media event to proffer solutions to the challenges confronting Lagos State and Nigeria, particularly with regards to the 2023 general elections.
The BOOT Party candidate also unveiled a 10-point priority programme of action, which encapsulates the problems in the state, and how he would address them if elected to create a Lagos that works for the residents.
The priority areas include security; energy; transportation, effective movement of goods, people, and services; sustainable financing / empowerment of entrepreneurs to create wealth; land reforms, smart city and environment, creative economy, entertainment, sports, and technology; land reforms; physical and social infrastructure; health and education; agriculture; and justice reforms and human rights
Oluwo said the current situation of Lagos State is dire and noted that the people want a change.
He said, “The people of Lagos are protesting the bad governance in place. My mission then under the APC has not changed. I am keying into the protest by the people to galvanise them and help them take back their state.”
He decried the poor security in Lagos and noted that the number one duty of any government is to secure the people.
He further said, “The first job of government is security. Some people are tempted that the next after security is infrastructure, but it is not. The second job of government is to provide energy because even security, health and education must sit on energy.
“Lagos is a city state, but for a state to be smart, some things must happen, security must be tight and multi-dimensional. There is something I call GPS, which is goods, people, and services. Any society that is not efficient in moving these GPS will not be consistent, and that is why Lagos is the way it is.”
He said his administration would improve public transportation systems and encourage car owners to leave their vehicles at home with a view to decongesting the roads.
“Our objective on transportation is that we want to reduce travel time. We must reduce the time people spend in traffic. The transportation policy has not provided alternatives to encourage car owners to leave their vehicles at home and ride in public transport system. The third objective is the fact that Lagos is a coastline state, and the lagoon flows from Epe all the way to Badagry, and we will reform our water transportation to encourage people to leave their vehicles at home. We will put a system that will move people safely on the water. As it is today our public transportation causes people depression,” he said.
He said the APC government had betrayed the confidence the Pan Yoruba socio political organisation, Afenifere reposed on the party’s leaders, especially those from the South West geopolitical zone, when the leadership of the organisation established the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) as a political party, and helped the party secure the government of the six South West states.
He lamented that the AD, which became the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now a major stakeholder in the APC had since derailed from the vision of Afenifere, thus the decision of the Afenifere in Lagos to endorse his candidature.
Those at the occasion include the National Chairman of the party, Mr. Sunday Adenuga, the deputy Governorship Candidate, Mr. Rotimi Balogun, the director General of the Campaign Organisation, Mr. Lanre Anjolaiya, and Afenifere leader in Lagos, Otunba Tunde Anakoya, among others.