By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Candidate for Lagos State, Mr Adedeji Doherty, says for Federal Government policies to be impactful on citizens, state governments must key into them.
Doherty, who also doubles as the PDP National Vice-Chairman (South-West), stated this in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that that federal interventions such the fuel subsidy removal and power sector reforms would not yield the desired impacts without strategic alignment from states.
Doherty also noted that the success of President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” economic policies would depend largely on state governments effectively keying into them
According to him, Lagos State remains the nation’s economic powerhouse, housing over 20 million residents and 13 million registered voters.
“Mr President can do all he wants to do, but his various Renewed Hope programmes cannot show results except Lagos buys into whatever he is doing.
“Where you don’t have Lagos attached to the execution of what the president is doing, it will not really show and have an effect on the generality of the people,” he said.
The governorship candidate expressed concerns over what he termed as the failure of the Lagos State government to provide reciprocal support to federal government’s policies, citing infrastructure and social deficit despite the state’s N3.3 trillion income.
“We haven’t gotten a new university in the past 30 years. We haven’t gotten a new general hospital in the past 25 years. We still have traffic jams at the same level we had 15 years ago, even with the Blue and Red Rail systems,” he said.
Doherty stated that if elected, his administration would deploy a 10-point agenda covering roads, education, health, housing, security, water, power and the empowerment of youths, women and children.
To cushion the effects of macro-economic adjustments, he promised that his government would use excess funds from the fuel subsidy removal to subsidise electricity for small businesses.
“Let Lagos State subsidise power. Let us invest in the companies that are running the DISCOs. Let us make sure that the hairdressers, the barbing salons, the tailors, the welders and the vulcanisers are able to get 24-hour power at an affordable and profitable price,” he said.
On his plans for education sector in the state, Doherty said that his deputy governorship candidate would be a practitioner in the education sector to bridge the gap in building the youth of tomorrow.
Responding to concerns over regional insecurity and the recent mass abduction of schoolchildren in Oyo State, Doherty promised to prioritise security, including launching an aggressive cross-border security strategy to shield Lagos by neutralising bandits in neighbouring states.
He argued that insecurity anywhere in the country, including the North, directly hurts Lagos’ economy by driving up food prices due to disrupted supply chains.
The PDP governorship candidate promised to leverage the state’s massive financial resources to support other South-West states with advanced technology, overriding resource constraints to stop criminal elements before they reach Lagos borders.
“As governor of Lagos State, I will move there (Oyo) with drones. I will move there with every security resource available. I will override even the Oyo State Government because they can’t afford what I can afford. But I must stop them in Oyo. I must quash them in Oyo,” Doherty declared.
Recalling how former Gov. Ayodele Fayose addressed the issue of insecurity in Ekiti, Doherty said that Lagos must act as the ultimate security custodian of the South-West zone.
“If I’m going to keep Lagos safe, I have to keep Oyo safe. I have to keep Ondo safe. We will extend a hand of fellowship in equipment, intellect, Information Technology and different technological ways.
“We have heat-sensitive equipment that can go into the forest and detect wherever they are, even if they are inside a cave,” he said.
The 64-year-old industrialist, who recalled that he first contested for the governorship seat at the age of 38, urged the people of Lagos to see his decade-long consistency within PDP as a testament to his determination and capacity to deliver good governance. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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