By Chukwudi Nweje, Lagos
Lagos Labour Party (LP) candidate for governor Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has vowed that he would put an end to the perennial culture of state funds used to service a particular family if elected.
He accused the All Progressives Congress government in the state of failing to bring succour to the people in the 23 years it has been in power.
“The APC government in Lagos State has perfected the art of state capture, a state capture that focuses on milking the state for the interest of one man and his family and cronies. Lagos State has become like a company run in the interest of a few proprietors and it is not run transparently and they are not accountable to anybody. The APC government in Lagos State has failed because in over 23 years in power it is not able to achieve what Alhaji Lateef Jakande achieved in four and half years,” he said.
Rhodes-Vivour told Daily Sun in an exclusive interview that the present administration in the state has focused more on taxing the people and businesses to death rather than incentivising growth.
He noted that if elected, he would focus more on incentivising businesses to set up and thereby increase employment and job creation.
“My priority areas in the first 100 days would be on urban planning renewal of the state, this would be tied into the transport system and housing. I would also focus on education and healthcare and incentivising growth in relation to companies and businesses. I would look at the comparative advantages of the different local governments and incentivise companies to set up there, youths in those local governments would be trained for free to acquire skills so that they would be employable because the employability skills set of our people is low. We must start teaching our people how to produce things, it should not just be about buying them and that is why Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of LP keeps talking about moving Nigeria from a consumption economy to a productive economy. At MIT the motto of the school is ‘mind and heart’, in other words, it is not enough to think about something, you must make it with your hands.”
He said the LP has become the official opposition party not just in the state but in the country and expressed confidence that LP would win the election in Lagos and at the centre in 2023.
“The LP rally that was held across Nigeria on October 1 shows that the LP has become the official opposition party, it shows that the Nigerian people have taken over the politics of the country and have decided that politics should not be in the hands of politicians, The people now know that power resides with them. That is what LP and the Obi-Datti movement is about, the movement is about changing the status quo from an era when politicians were in-charge of politics to an era where the people determine the politics”, he said.