Sanwo-Olu absent, as governorship candidates highlight plans for Lagos at debate

Three governorship candidates on Sunday highlighted their plans for moving Lagos State forward at a public debate.

However, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking re-election as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) boycotted the debate citing alleged involvement of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in political violence in the state.
Present at the debate organised by The Platform, a civic discussion initiative of the Covenant Christian Centre, were Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, Abdul-Azeez Adediran of the PDP and Olufunso Doherty of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The debate which took place Sunday at the Marriot Hotel, Lagos was moderated by a broadcaster and communications strategist, Victor Oladokun, and lasted for two hours.

It had the aspirants speaking on issues ranging from insecurity, traffic gridlocks in the state, education, health to innovation.

The debate

While the candidates differed on plans and methods, they publicly disavowed political violence as the moderator cited incidents where supporters of APC and PDP allegedly violently disrupted campaigns.

Mr Sanwo-Olu had on Saturday pulled out of the debate, saying he would not be “sharing the podium” with the PDP candidate following an attack in Surulere.

Speaking on the incident, Mr Adediran blamed the APC candidate for playing the victim card, saying the ruling party had been at “the centre of attacks since the beginning of the campaigns.”

“The event of two days ago was very unfortunate. I was there to campaign and surely and I don’t think I would have gone there to shoot the people I went to campaigns to. So for me and my supporters, we are going to ensure that we continue with our election campaign as peacefully as possible,” he said.

To curb insecurity, Mr Adediran said his administration will put motor park leaders “on their toes” to make sure they arrest the perpetrators of violence in the state. He said he will introduce “intelligencia community policing” which will allow citizens to share information on attacks and other issues directly with the government.

On his part, Mr Rhides-Vivour said “youth unemployment is a menace in the state and an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”, noting that the solution is to ensure that the youths get employability skills, vocational, formal and digital tools.

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He said his government will provide a hotline that people can call when they are harassed and “we will be going aggressively against violence to make sure that we are not in a lawless state”.

Mr Doherty of ADC said his government would prioritise the welfare of security agencies in the state “who are going rogue and acting in ways they shouldn’t.

“We need to ensure that the welfare of security agents is taken care of because if we deploy security agencies in our community, and we do not take care of their welfare, it is only a matter of time before you begin to see them turning into predators on the citizens themselves,” he said.

Lagos second worst city to live in the world

Citing a 2022 intelligence report ranking Lagos as the second worst city to live in the world, the aspirants were asked to disclose plans to reduce the impact of inadequate transport infrastructure on the mental and physical well-being of Lagosians and to enhance productivity.

Mr Rhodes-Vivour of LP said the basic foundation needed to move Lagos forward is having a proper train network system, saying he is “going to deliver about 60 kilometres of rail in four years as Lagos has only delivered 16 kilometres in 14 years”.

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He added that another of his plan is to have a circular route that links the entire Lagos east.

“We will create a coastal line all the way from Victoria Island to Ibeju Lekki, Ikorodu all the way to Epe and connecting with short bridges that are not farther than six kilometres apart which is much more efficient, than the third mainland bridge that they are trying to do,” he said.

Agreeing with the LP candidate, Mr Doherty said the rail project is a welcome development that should be complemented by bringing the waterways into the multimodal transportation system, “which we must pursue and deliver in a short period of time.”

Mr Adediran said the solution to the gridlock at the Lekki Aja expressway is to provide a fly-over at every intersection, adding that the state needs more alternative routes that link with places.

Speaking on the container that killed pedestrians on Sunday in Ojuelegba, he said the state has to restrict containers from moving during the day.

Education, out-of-school children

On how to improve the quality and the quantity of primary and secondary schools, Mr Rhodes-Vivour said he would improve employability and vocational skills of students and also introduce after-school programmes.

“Another thing that we are going to look at with education is that we need to start infusing digital technology into higher education, so that we don’t get too far left behind. It is extremely important that at every primary school, they have access to computers and digital technology,” he said.

On his part, Mr Adediran said he would go into partnership with the registered 5000 private schools in the state to admit out-of-school children, adding that he would also be working with religious organisations to use their spaces during school hours for some of the children.

Mr Doherty promised “moving the educational system in a direction that engages and produces a skilled workforce and enables us to become an attractive destination for businesses.”

Other issues discussed by the candidates were tackling poverty, food insecurity, flooding, poor sanitation, and unemployment.