Kunle Adelabu
-Urge electorate to vote for them come July 24
Ahead of the Saturday, July 24 Local Government Elections in Lagos State, the Chairmanship candidate in Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Sulaimon Kazeem Olanrewaju and his running mate, Hon. Adesegun Aluko, have unveiled their agenda for the electorate.
The Chairmanship candidate, who was a former Vice Chairman in the council, at a briefing with selected media and blogging outfits, said that he knows the challenges facing his people in the council and pledged to address them if elected into office.
Hon. Olanrewaju and his vice unveiled their programmes in the area of youths development, infrastructural developments, education, health, security, market and revenue generation among others.
“We are fully aware of what we are seeking for as Chairman and Vice Chairman. We are aware of all the challenges in Ikorodu West LCDA”, Hon. Olanrewaju said.
“I believe in this environment; I work in it and has an office in this environment. I have lived with my people for about 20 years. I have lived in this axis (Agric/Owutu) for 12 years and I know their challenges and these were what pushed me out to contest for the chairmanship position about 12 years ago.
“I have been living on the other side (Ipakodo) for almost seven years now.
“I know my people’s challenges and God will help us to surmount them and if we cannot address them all, we will endeavour to solve 60% of them which is a good grade if achieved".
Below are the highlights of Hon. Olanrewaju’s agenda for the as unveiled at the briefing:
Youth Development:
“We have a well – planned programme to develop our youths, especially in the area of engaging them in sporting activities. For instance, we have swimmers in Majidun and our focus is to assist them to develop by training and organizing competitions for them”, he said.
“Basically, we are going to invest so much in sporting activities to make our youths develop more interests. This will allow us to engage them and tap into their talents.
“We hope to do this so that in the next few years to come, we can see some of them representing Lagos State and Nigeria at the Olympics. That is what I am looking forward to.
“We are going to embark on continuous activities when it comes to sports. We are going to be having sporting engagements every three months, at most every six months. We will also try our possible best to ensure that our athletes participate in the state and national – sponsored activities and through that, they will get to the highest level.
“What they need is sponsors and if we don’t have the fund, we will look for sponsors that will do that as long as we are open and transparent, we will get those that would fund them.
Education:
While stating that his administration will do everything possible to reverse the negative trend in having over 100 students in a classroom, Hon. Sulaimon also added that this will be dependent on improved revenue .
He said:
“If we can have more funds, there are some schools that need expansion.
“When I was in primary and secondary schools, we were not more than 40 in a class. In actual fact, we should be having 20 students in a class.
“I promise that we will visit affected schools to know their needs and see where we can come in. If possible, we will build more classrooms that would reduce population in a classroom so that my students and kids will be able to sit comfortably and learn in a conducive environment.
Vocational Centres:
While unveiling his administration’s agenda in the area of vocational education, Hon Olanrewaju said:
“Our administration will do everything to reverse the negative trend whereby we are having over 100 students in a classroom.
“We have vocational centres which we are going to develop to cater for youths that are pursuing educational careers so that they can acquire skills and be useful to themselves and the society.
“We are going to make our vocational centres attractive to youths who are interested in acquiring vocational skills so that they too can discover their own talents too.
“We are going to start the rehabilitation of the vocational centre opposite F1 immediately we assume office because we really need it”, he pledged.
Security:
The Chairmanship candidate said:
“We have a lot of challenges when it comes to security in our council but the federal and the state governments are in control.
“In this respect, there are some security challenges that are beyond our LCDA.
“To tackle this insecurity, the important thing is to engage our youths. By the time we find something for our youths and mothers to do, the challenges of insecurity would reduced.
“Also, by the time we start our sporting activities in Igbo – Olomu and other areas, the insecurity challenges would also be reduced.
Infrastructural Development:
Hon. Olanrewaju said:
“The first thing that we are going to do is to send our men to LAMTA for training. If we are able to control the junctions, the traffic will reduce”, he said.
“The resources that we have in Ikorodu West LCDA will not be enough to do a road, but the only thing that we can do is to partner with the state government to do some roads.
“What we can do immediately on our part is to make the roads passable for drivers.
“We are going to visit each Ward to see the roads that we can fix and drainage that requires clearing so that there will be free flow of water”, he said.
Market development:
“Creation of markets is one of the functions of local government. We intend to develop new markets so that my people can have a good place to buy and sell”, Hon. Sulaimon said.
“Our aim is to create a market that will be so moderate and accessible for them. The amount that they would be paying will be minimal.
Women Empowerment:
The APC Chairmanship candidate also stated:
“We are going to start with our party women that are into trading. A woman that is a petty trader must have access to soft loans without interest to start her business or expand it.
“We are also going to extend the programme to the larger society for other women to also benefit from it.
Internally Generated Revenue (IGR):
On IGR, which is the area of the Chairmanship candidate’s expertise, Hon. Olanrewaju said:
“That is my field. I am a tax consultant and I do generate revenue for the state and federal government and I should be able to use my expertise in raising the revenue level of our council. We would generate good money for our local government”, he promised.
“We are going to improve on what we are having (generating) today in the council. We are all going to work in this regard because I am not going to consult the council revenue generation out”.
The Vice Chairmanship candidate of the party, Hon. Adesegun Aluko, who was also a former Supervisory Councillor in the council assured residents of Ikorodu West LCDA that their administration would embark on impactful programmes.
“All our projects are going to impact positively on the people of Ikorodu West LCDA.We are going to make progress, develop and improve the welfare of our people”, he pledged.
Speaking on their plans for healthcare programme during the briefing, Aluko said:
“We are going to upgrade some of the existing Primary Health Centres to full – fledged maternity centres where we will be allowing our people to deliver their babies in a good and conducive environment”, he said.
“We are going to equip them with necessary equipment for safe delivery for our mothers.
“We are going to improve on our immunization programme and also intensify sensitization in this regard and other health issues.
“We are also going to organize a medical programme for elderly residents where we are going to give them free drugs. This is going to be quarterly or twice a year”.
Appealing to the electorate for their votes come July 24, Hon. Sulaimon added that residents should come out in large numbers to make a statement with their votes.
“I want members of our party and residents generally to come out on July 24 to vote for our party. I want them to come out en masse because the coming election is not just for us to win but to also have more votes”, he pleaded.
“If we record more votes, let say like 40, 000 that would be a message to the federal government that we have more people in Ikorodu, especially Ikorodu West LCDA. Voting is a very strong factor to determine our council’s strength”, he said.
