The Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adeniran, popularly called Jandor has knocked the Lagos State government over what he calls poor management of the state’s resources, stressing that the Lagos State wealth should be seen on the streets of Lagos.
Jandor started this yesterday while presenting the 69 candidates of the party across the state to the media in Lagos.
He said the people of the state are tired of the status quo and are desirous of change; want a fresh breath of air in all sectors of the state.
According to Jandor, they would take development to all parts of the state, they want a wealthy state. They have decided to work together, take and give wealth back to the people.
“We want fresh air, in all sectors of the economy, education sector, everywhere. We have two million children roaming the street in Lagos”, he said.
The governorship candidate added that for more than two decades now, Lagos has had only one governor, adding that it’s time the state gets a second governor.
He, however, said all the 69 candidates and the party have resolved to take back Lagos from the vice grip of one man who had held the state down for 23 years.
Speaking about the poor management of the state resources by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), government, he said, “What worries us that we have a budget of N1.1 trillion, maybe it will be too premature to discuss the current fiscal year, we can discuss the previous physical year which has already closed and look at what we have done with the budget of the year 2021, that is equivalent to this one, with the fact that when we grew our internal debt between the first quarter of last year and first quarter of this year with over N273 billion.
“We also know that when this government came and gave us the budget of last year, with a projection of N60 billion IGR, at the end of the year, they reported an average of N45 billion. If you put that together with our capital receipt and federal transfer, of course, we still need some deficit to fund the budget but at the end of the year, the government reported 90 percent in terms of revenue and close to 85 percent in terms of expenditure. If we put our capital receipts and federal receipts, and IGR together, we will get an average of N45 billion and so we know that budget cannot be funded.
He added, “The question is where the money go to? From N560 billion, it was grown to N870 billion this year, and we are looking for N273 billion, this government has not on its own conceptualized a project and commissioned it. If you see them cutting and tape in the last three years of this administration, they have abandoned projects, especially in the housing sector, which Fashola built over the years and Ambode completed. They are cutting the tapes and painting them. Whether you have a budget of N1 trillion, the issue is where is it. Lagos is a wealthy state, but it is only on paper, we need to see that wealth on the streets of Lagos.”
He maintained that if he becomes the governor of the state, he could want to be over ambitious but with evidence on Lagos streets.
“In our case, we can say we want to be over-ambitious and do a budget of N20 trillion, then the next thing should be how to fund the budget. There are many ways you can fund a budget without stressing the people of Lagos State, without increasing their budget in terms of taxation. There is lots of money in the informal sector, we will just have to look for a way to bring in the money. We have a government that does not want to be bothered, what they are interested in doing is grounding people’s businesses in the name of multiple taxations.”
“We have citizens and the level of their conspiracy of silence is alarming, we will see it and won’t talk about it, everybody will just keep quiet as if nothing has happened we have come and we will stop all of that.”
Jandor added, “We have gotten to the point where we can no longer breathe and we think that it is about time, we just have to do something else. They want a Lagos that will work for them. The Lagos that we have currently has only been working for one man; he decides who emerges the chancellor in a ward, the chairman of a local government area, and so on. We want a Lagos where Lagosians will be proud to say that they are the ones who put the governor there.”
Still speaking about his developmental plan, he said, “We would focus on taking development to the inner part of the state and give priority to education towards reducing the huge number of out-of-school children in the state if elected governor in 2023.
“We have never been this hopeful, 2023 is the year that we would put an end to that dynasty that has held us for 23 years.
“For over two decades, we have only had one governor in Lagos, it is time we have the second one”, Jandor added.
The breakdown of the 69 candidates which include three Senatorial candidates is as follows: Segun Adewale, Lagos-West, Wale Gomez, Lagos-Central, and Nicholas Akobandi, Lagos-East.
Also, preset were the 24 House of Representatives candidates who include serving reps from Surulere, Amuwo- Odofin, and Oshodi, including sensational singer, Bankole Wellington aka Banky W who is the candidate of Eti-Osa Federal Constituency; 40 Lagos House of Assembly candidates and his running mate, Funke Akindele.
