Kunle Adelabu
Candidates of the African Action Congress (AAC) for both Ikorodu Constituency I and II in the Lagos State House of Assembly, have again informed the electorates of their plans if they are elected in the March 18, 2023 election to represent them at the State Assembly.
Mr Afeez Akolade Abubakri, a holder of a Higher National Diploma in Public Administration and Mr Shamsideen Olasunkanmi Adedoyin Kasumu, a chartered accountant and strong advocate for Good Governance, candidates for Ikorodu Constituency I and II respectively, were guests in an interactive session on THE IMPACT WhatsApp platform, where they engaged stakeholders and residents of Ikorodu on why they should be elected.
THE IMPACT introduced the session to give all the candidates equal opportunities to be heard on various issues affecting their aspirations and programmes for the people. The engagements also afforded constituents the opportunity to know those seeking their mandate and their plans for them.
Mr Kasumu, stating his reasons for aspiring to represent the people of Ikorodu Constituency II, said:
“I was driven by the passion and desire for good governance, which seems a very scarce commodity. Good governance covers issues like ethical conduct, rule of law, efficiency and effectiveness, transparency and sound financial management cum accountability”, he said.
“I had also carried out a research into the major challenges facing the great people of Ikorodu – Oga, and I am now very much equipped to dish out the solutions, via effective legislation and oversight”.
Stating his legislative plans for Ikorodu, Mr Kasumu said that he plans to sponsor:
“A bill for Life jail against theft of public funds: Corruption including the theft of public funds, reduces resources for development, increases inequality, decreases accountability and political responsiveness, and thus produces rising frustration and hardship among citizens. However, the sanctions against theft of public funds are considered too weak. The weaker the sanctions, the higher the propensity to steal public funds”, he said.
“Whilst the ultimate solution is the application of technology to checkmate corruption at all levels and functions, the sanctions should be stiff enough to serve as deterrent, in case technology fails or circumvented. I shall be proposing a bill for life jail sentence against theft of public funds.
“A bill for free and qualitative tertiary education: Free tertiary education is very plausible in Lagos State. It is a monumental fallacy to suggest that tertiary education is only meant for those that can afford it. The inherent desire and natural talent to become a professional like medical doctor, engineer, lawyer, lecturer, accountant, etc, must never be restricted by affordability.
“Likewise, skills acquisition centers as an alternative to tertiary education should not be the inheritance of only the less privileged. Attendance should be driven purely by passion and not poverty.
“Moreover, in a developing society like ours, there is an urgent and critical need to enhance high level human capacity, by providing free and qualitative education. For instance, Lagos State can at least double medical school enrollment to provide the much more needed medical doctors.
“Free tertiary education would also contribute to reducing the current crime rate. Many of our youths engage in criminalities and immoralities such as cybercrime, kidnapping, robbery and prostitution, just to fund their education. A developing society like ours cannot afford to make education less accessible because of school fees”, he added.
While emphasizing his educational plans, Kasumu also dwelled into how the programme would be funded.
“Thus, I shall be proposing a bill for free tuition tertiary education for the less privileged Lagos State residents, attending Lagos State owned tertiary institutions. This would be actualised via a trust fund. The contributors to the trust fund shall include government and interested private sector and individuals. Lagos residency shall be determined by registration with LASRRA”, he said.
“With estimated beneficiaries of 35,000 students and average sessional school fees of N125, 000, this amounts to just N4.4billion sessional investment in our youths and future leaders. N4.4billion is only about 0.23% of Lagos State N1.7trillion budget. If we double our estimate to 70,000 beneficiaries, we still have 0.46% (very much less than 1%) of the budget!”, he further explained.
The candidate for the Ikorodu Constituency II, also pledged to sponsor, “A bill for Unemployment Benefit via Insurance Scheme”.
According to him, “Unemployment insurance benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), should be paid by the government to people who are unemployed and actively seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the claimant is out of work”, he said.
“To be eligible for JSA, claimants must state that they are actively seeking work by filling in a Jobseeker’s Agreement form and attending a New Jobseeker interview (NJI). They must also go to a job center to be established by law, every two weeks to “sign on”, that is, to certify that they are still actively seeking work.
“The proposed bill shall also make sure that those who meet specific eligibility requirements may receive up to 28 weeks of benefits a year. The scheme shall be funded via a contributory insurance scheme, by both the employers of labour and government”, he said.
In addition, he promised to also sponsor a bill for Motor Parks and Agbero Reforms.
“I shall sponsor a bill to prescribe a minimum of 4 years jail sentence against any illegal levy collection by motor park touts. All transport union and association activities, including membership levies, must be in tandem with global best practices”.
He said that he shall ensure a participatory representation if voted as a lawmaker.
“One of the hallmarks of representative democracy and good governance is people’s participation. Participation ensures that the people are given the right to partake in the decision making and governance processes”, he said.
“Thus all bills shall be masses driven, preceded by well publicised and advertised people’s parliament and referendum. The well documented and overall will of the people shall then be tabled before the Lagos House of Assembly. Every lawmaker shall be subjected and exposed to the overall will of the people”, he added.
Kasumu also listed facilitation of Fly over at Ogolonto junction, to ease traffic; Business grants and scholarships; Construction/completion of inner roads and drainages; Modular solar power systems and lobby for more health centers among others as what he will be focusing on for his constituency projects.
In his own submissions, Mr Afeez Akolade Abubakri, AAC candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikorodu Consistency 1, said that his aspiration was driven by the need to evolve good policies to change the social and economic conditions of Lagosians positively.
“To be concise, Lagos State is a rich State, we the people are poor. Living standards have become worse over the last four decades. That is it’s so hard for an average Lagosian to even feed twice a day not to talk of having a balanced diet daily. This is due to the anti-poor policies of the ruling class which have led to increasing poverty for workers in the formal and informal economy as well as poor traders in Lagos State”, he said.
“I was driven by the above mentioned to represent the interest of the good people of Ikorodu constituency 1, and Lagos State at large.
“I believe the only division in Lagos and Nigeria is between the rich and the poor. The poor work heavily day and night to pay tax and develop the society. But the whole wealth goes to the rich whose only interest is greed and power. I am very much ready to serve lkorodu Consistency 1 and Lagos at large for better representative/good governance by providing solutions to all the problems mentioned and yet to be mentioned.
“I have scouted for the problems facing Ikorodu people and I have found solutions to the problems”, he added.
On his agenda, Afeez said:
“As a legislator, my job will be to sponsor bills and to facilitate the provisions of the needs of the good people of my constituency”.
He gave highlights of his manifestoes, with focus on: Education, Sports, and Agricultural development in Ikorodu Consistency 1; Vocational trainings/ Scholarship for the less privileged; Youths empowerment/Employment opportunities and Facilitation of the completion of street roads at lkorodu Consistency 1.
Also, facilitation of the provision/installation of transformers where necessary in Ikorodu Consistency 1, among others.
He also said that if elected, he will be sponsoring a bill for amendment/full implementation of 2011 Lagos Tenancy Agreement Law.
