₦airaland Forum

[url]https://punchng.com/breaking-oro-festival-wont-affect-gov-polls-elegushi-clarifies/ [/url]
Oro festival WON’T affect Saturday Elections, our esteemed Oba Elegushi has clarified, we thank him for this.
Lagosians you have NOTHING to fear, come out and VOTE !

It takes place from 12-5.30 AM. Voting begins by 8am.

Once again we are thankful for the clarification! No one will be disenfranchised!

Seun:
Peter Obi's defeat of Tinubu in Lagos during the presidential election, and the defeat of many PDP/APC/APGA senate and house of reps candidates by Labour Party candidates have allowed many Labour Party members and supporters to believe that it is possible for the Labour Party to seize control of Lagos State from APC by defeating Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu in the 2023 governorship election of Lagos State.

The man of the moment, who has been tasked with achieving this feat, is Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, also known as GRV. He's a MIT-trained architect, activist, and a politician since 2017. He has agreed to answer your questions about his bid to be the next governor of Lagos State. Please feel free to ask any question and also like and share any question that you want him to answer, so that it will not be missed.

I'll set the ball rolling by asking a simple question:
* Why did you leave architecture for politics after practicing in UK and Nigeria?

Previous thread: https://www.nairaland.com/7542193/gbadebo-rhodes-vivour-lp-lagos-governorship

To answer this question on why did I leave architecture for politics, me and all my siblings were always raised with using our skills and training to help Nigeria, we weren't compelled by our parents and we all returned voluntarily, I only practiced in the UK as to see the best practice in the world first hand to bring those standards back. In regards to that I have been an active architect in Nigeria and I have worked an executed multiple projects, I wanted to use my work experience in the UK and masters from MIT to improve urbanisation and scaling to improve the housing situation in Nigeria but I realised some issues can only be solved by policy hence my forray into politics, when I protested against GMOs , I realized that I need to get active in politics.
We need people who care to fix the issues, who are understand the issues, that's genuinely why i joined. If we have more people accoutanble to the people and not godfathers, Nigeria will move forward. I still love architecture though !

CodeTemplar:
I don't know if I should ask or just talk about industries as I am not sure you may have thought of it.
Lagos and Ogun is favoured to be the choice location of mostly repackaging industries and medium scale manufacturers. Industries go hand in hand with reliable and cost effective power supply. Looking at the power structure in place within Nigeria, there is little room for IPPs(Independent Power Plants) to generate and sell power to industries directly. What do you plan to do in this area if you have any plans. I am particularly interested in this area because if there is any state that can generate and transmit power, I think it should be Lagos. It has small landmass meaning fewer KM to be covered by transmission lines and the power market is arguably the biggest in Nigeria.

As regard housing, will you consider the idea of making parts of Ogun state voluntarily join Lagos state a good one? Lagos seem to have no land for any significant residential area expansion and residential building are seriously competing with space for road network and other social amenities like parks, health centers, schools, industrial estates, churches, and event centers.

1. A key part of my administration is independent transmission and generation of power in Lagos

2. Parts of ogun state don't need to join lagos, improvement of transport links and partnership with the federal and ogun state governments can make this happen, in the end we are all nigerians and plans that benefit us all. there's alot of land in badagry and other areas for this to work to build residential areas. What needs to be done is to spread out development and urbanisation. Also proper humane mass housing with availability to alot of people will be a priority.

I have been weighing my words carefully but people, I am a proud yoruba man, who comes from a family of indigenous Lagosians , and we can trace our history for 100s of years, and yes my mother is igbo, and I take no shame at all in that part of my heritage, my parents have been happily married for over 40 years. We have many great Nigerians of mixed heritage, the current governor of osun state also has an igbo mother and his yoruba heritage isn't called into question. I love being Yoruba.

There is no igbo takeover going on in Lagos, and it's a dangerous and unfair thing to insinuate, LP won lagos convincingly during the presidential elections, and all people of all tribes voted for LP , even winning apc strongholds like alimosho cause we all recognized the need for a better Nigeria, some powers that be know this and think the smartest way to hide their failures is to then make it tribal split, instead of focusing on policy and how the government can work to make the lives better of all Lagosians.

Now to explain my heart, I will admit sometimes some of my words look bad without a larger picture but I know my heart, the problem of making nigeria work for all Nigerians has been in my heart from time, Nigeria as is , is not working for the vast majority of people be it tribe, social class or religion
https://thehopefulnigerian./2016/07/26/how-can-multi-ethnic-tension-be-managed-in-multi-ethnic-societies-like-nigeria/ here's a 2016 blog I wrote about it

I said it on multiple times on different platforms , that the detention and demonization of Sunday Adeyemo wasn't right and the government needs to address what led to him rallying our people to defend themselves, that while he isn't perfect his actions were a response to a bigger problem.

thebosstrevor1:
GRVLagos

if you win the governorship election, how will you work with the Lagos state house of assembly to govern if, for instance, APC wins majority seats in the house?

also if you win the election, do you plan to continue working with the present administration's infrastructural projects, for instance, the train and other constructions like roads and stations going on in Lagos state? or do you have a new blueprint for lagos state?

On the federal level, how do you plan to work with the government of Tinubu to achieve the prosperity of Lagosians and of Nigerians considering the fact that Lagos is the economic hub of Nigeria?

last but not the least, as you know Lagos is dirty and it stinks because of the inhabitants not obeying simple rules of sanitation, how do you plan to solve this?

1. Hopefully Lp continues the momentum from feb 25th and win the majority in the house but my government will work simply and effeciently, oue policies and actions will be so in interests of the constituents of Lagos that fighting it will be akin to fighting those who elected

2. all projects and contracts will be reviewed, a cost benefit analysis applied and benchmark the project to world bank standards to make sure the contracts aren't padded. we will continue and improve on the good projects being done and rework the ones that are not of value to the people of lagos.

3. I will work with whoever is in federal office to serve the people of lagos well, synergy obviously would be easier depending on what becomes of the current cases against inec ( they have too many questions to answer for the poor execution of the elections last weekend where they repeatedly failed to execute their own laws and protocols), but again my vision and mission is to serve the people and I will have to work with who is commander in chief, I have no plans to fight the federal government, I will present my plans and ideas to federal government which I believe collaboration would be beneficial to the people of lagos.

4. Improved waste management, provision of more public bins as well improving our drainage systems and making sure they are covered and refuse free. all these would rapidly improve the smell of lagos.

AccessME:
What do u plan to do extraordinarily that will ensure Lagos generate more internally revenue thereby paving way for improved economy prosperity and general development of the state?@GRVLagos

This has to be full level development of the entire town, areas like Badagry, Ikorodu and spread out development
we will increase productivity by improving the transport networks, better roads, ferry and water transport as well as as a proper robust train system.
Increasing power development and supply so folks can be more productive.
The goal is to increase how much revenue the state produces, and then tax the raised revenues and make these taxes work for the people.

Increasing IGR by increasing taxes without increasing how much people earn is wickedness, also the informal sector is taxed heavily , that burden needs to be reduced but also formalized so they can enjoy the benefits of the money they pay.

Also an important update for all of us in the upcoming gubernatorial elections, they have been delayed a week to March 18th.

Benbellamor:
Mr Gbadebo, Greeting sir, quick to my question...How do you want to get the Agberos Busy after Stopping them from extortion because they are used to free money and if they are not well magaged they may turn to robbers, How do you want to get the Agberos Busy or employed? Thank you sir

A good deal of these men just need to be rehabilitated, trained and offered alternative paths to earn a living, I have engaged and interacted with them many times, some are even graduates, who life and Lagos happened to, leaving them vulnerable to a life of crime and exploitation. They can be trained in artisan work, community policing, factory work and more, and incentives will be provided to companies that hire them as well as incentivising them to attend these schemes by providing stipends and food.

siralos135:
How do plan to deal with the never ending trouble of traffic in Lagos.

yes with traffic it is going to be an inter-modal wide scale approach
first we need to improve drainage and make sure water flows well so during rainy season we have functional roads that aren't hampered by FLOODING
tar and make sure the roads we have are tarred and worthy of road use
expand on alternative needs of transport, we need a more robust ferry and water transport system
rapid expansion in trains and mass transit and deliver them within a short timeframe
make sure all roads in lagos are well lit at night , to improve movement and safety at night

pacificom:
Mr. Gbadebo, If you eventually become the governor of Lagos state, will you have to abandon some if not all the ongoing projects of APC Gov SanwoOlu, and make a fresh start to develop Lagos state in line with your party plan and manifesto ?

No not at all, we have committed to review all projects do a cost benefit analysis to see if they truly serve the people.
An issue we have here that hinders our development is selling "projects" to the public to make it seem like the government is working but were these projects actually designed to help and benefit the people, is there real impact ?
We also need to calculate the actual cost of these ongoing projects and see if they are fair, cause even with our cost peculiarities and issues in Nigeria , projects here often cost 4x the world bank benchmank to execute and that's just not good enough.
Now the culture of just cancelling all projects started by previous admins for a new admin to shine is also wrong, we will review, continue and improve on the good projects being done.

Good day everyone, I am going to make an effort to appeal to us all to try and focus on the challenges of Lagos and governance when asking questions.
I will do my best to answer all I can, but please I appeal for all to see the real and bigger picture.
Divisive politics and tactics are a distraction, Lagos isn't optimized to work for all, areas like badagry and ikorodu are ignored, neglected and underdeveloped.
Too many people are unemployed and underpaid, which contributes to the issues of crime.
We have issues of tankers falling and killing innocent bystanders and so much more.

Too many real and pressing issues that need to be tackled to make all our lives better, so please ask me things you would like me to solve if elected as your governor.

Moh247:




What Administrative skills do you posses that makes you think you can Govern Lagos ?!

*Oyinlola, Marwa both attended Administrative and governance coarses at Staff College Jos

*Fashola attended prestigious war college Washington DC with Masters in Strategic studies

*Sanwo-Olu and Ambode attended the presitigeoes JFK and Havard School of Governance

Chinedu should tell us schools of management and Administration he attended

Chinedu should give us full details of his administration of any workforce, business or organisation with more than 50 people

I believe your father was part of Board members club of Lagos elite, a Lagos version of Kaduna Mafia... How much of influence of Boarb member did you use in politics, given you were insisting on becoming Jandors Deputy instead of Funke, and Bode George was fully backing such


.

thank you this is important , one I am extremely skilled on a technical level when it comes to city and urban management, I graduated from MIT , a top 3 school in the world in architecture, but specialising in urban development and real estate management
I also got a masters in research and public policy from unilag
I have an excellent mix of nigerian and international knowledge

blueberryacres:
Please go through the thread before asking questions, most of us here as asking repeat questions.
Anyways, Good Evening @GRVLagos
Do you feel like there’s a need for the proposed Lekki International Airport apart from saving the people of Lekki time in getting to the MMIA?
I feel that not only is it a “waste” of public funds, but a distraction by the current leadership in Lagos in order to brainwash citizens. There isn’t enough air traffic coming to Lagos to justify the need of a second airport. Even if it’s converted to a majorly cargo airport, those funds are better off invested in modernising the old terminal of MMIA.
My fear is that hundreds of millions of dollars might go into a project that’ll be abandoned or under-utilised like most of the “international” airports being built in different parts of the country today. We aren’t focusing on the main problems those funds can solve, but on essentially luxury projects that only a tiny percentage of the population can enjoy.
My main question is, will you take the time, if elected as governor of Lagos state, to carefully review the ongoing and future planned projects in Lagos in order to know where funds can be more appropriately utilised for the benefit of the majority of Lagosians?

At this time I do not believe the lekki international airport is a good use of resources MMA 1 and 2 can be upgraded and maximized, we need to improve the maintainence culture in nigeria and not just start over
all projects will need to be reviewed from a cost benefit stand point, and see if the returns on big projects are worth it to the good people of lagos

Good day the good people of nairaland, I delivered my manifesto last night , it was in depth to show my plans and vision for lagos , it is very robust and produces an amazing vision and plan to deliver a lagos that works for everyone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VgykX18MBc The State of Lagos Address by GRV, LP Lagos Governorship candidate

Good day everyone, to help clear controversy, please ignore catchy soundbites and listen to the holistic approach, what we are going to do away with is the CURRENT SYSTEM we have, it is ineffective, un-compassionate and has been breeding violence and intimidation in the state, you cannot ban people , but we can rehabilitate them and remove the system that led them down this path and produce better outcomes for them and the entire state.
For too long the APC govt have exploited vulnerable youth of Lagos for violence and a mafia type chokehold on lagosians. Bus drivers, commuters, business owners, residents are tired, and even when engaged you will find alot of these exploited young men would seek alternative work if just given the chance with jobs and training.
My administration will engage the youth, our youth must be engaged in a way that brings out their best. This is why our focus is to create robust skill acquisition programs in every local govt and incentivise companies to hire grads of this program. We will tackle drug addiction as a health issue not a criminal one.
I unapologetically will fight this current system not with guns but with jobs, kindness and engagement. We will will declare a state of emergency on youth unemployment and tackle it systematically. I am not banning the people, I am removing a system and empowering them to live better and more productive lives.
you can get my full answer with what I said in VIDEO RIGHT HERE from last night
https://twitter.com/GRVlagos/status/1620053638688407554

you can also watch the entirety of the debate right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqeS76qny9o

Remember my good people, today is the lagos gubernatorial debate ! tune in and hear from me live on direct on my vision and policies for the better Lagos we deserve !

Good morning everyone ! Tomorrow is going to be a big day, the Lagos Gubernatorial debate, please tune in to hear from me Live and direct !

gbaskiboy:
Dear GRV,
How do you intend to manage the menace of agberos terrorising commercial drivers and passengers? How will you handle the unemployment among the youths, rising cost of medical bills in government hospitals? Will there be easy access to loan or grant for SMES? As incoming governor what do you think that make you qualify for this position and what difference will your government makes that will be totally difference from the past governors?

Good question, solving the issues of agberos in Lagos can be solved by providing most of them alternative paths of living, it will be a priority alongside tackling youth unemployment in general, retraining them and giving them other paths by providing them with artisanship, vocational training, training them to be state and communal police(which will have accountability measures to prevent abuse of power).
More on youth unemployment, my administration will focus on giving them skills that provide good paths to employability, through digital skills training, vocational, artisan training, entrepreneurial and business training and loans, as well as grants to start businesses, so yes loans and grants for SMEs will be made available.
Healthcare is in a crisis state in this country, first we need to train new staff to help put our healthcare workers, improve their pay and quality of life and also provide more medical facilities for all to use, my government will field some of the costs to drive down the cost of medical services for the common man in Lagos.
What makes me qualified is that I am an architect trained in estate development and urban renewal, Lagos is a town being choked by traffic and poor town planning, zoning, i have the understanding and knowledge on how to deploy upgrading and repairs of systems be it transport, estate development , building zoning and more. A key part of my administration will be urban renewal and development , moving away concentration of trade commerce and tourism from the hubs in ikeja, the island and bringing back areas like badagary into the development fold and making them hubs too. My governorship will be a strong departure from the 24 years of apc, it will be centered on the interests of the masses not that of just one man, his family and cronies, a model of leadership and impact will be like that of Lateef Jakande who achieved massive impact on Lagos that many of us are enjoying till today, improving housing, education and healthcare for all.

mrupright:
Dear GRV, What did you intend to do differently from what APC led State Government has done since 1999. Lagos generated the highest IGR but the cost of living and difficulty in doing business had been very high even before APC controlled Federal Government came on board. How do you intend to reduce incessant and unnecessary high taxation?

Again like an answer I gave earlier , a big part of my administration will be about transparency, lagos and nigeria has been held back by inefficiency and corruption, projects in Lagos cost 4x the benchmark, this is unsustainable we cannot get where we need to if we continue at this rate.
to make business easier I will improve transportation networks by increasing the quality of the roads and drainage , developing of rail, tram and water transport networks to reduce the pressure on the roads
taxation code and systems will be streamlined, with tax credits being provided for businesses and individuals to provide social goods
I will also implement state power generation so the electrical cost of doing business comes down.

the model of governance that I model after and seek to even exceed is that of the late great Lateef Jakande, a true man of the people and an excellent administrator and steward of the state

Theunbothered:
Reckless bus drivers contribute immensely to the traffic situation in Lagos, how will you handle this while maintaining a decent road transportation system?

In a similar answer I gave to revamping the entire transport system, old drivers will need to be retrained as well as new drivers trained , as well upgrading ( through repairs or replacement) and regulating our current fleet as well as strong enforcement of rules and penalties for rule breakers to ensure the quality of transport goes up. but this doesn't just apply to the bus drivers , everyone too has to be more careful with driving, lagos has gotten the reputation of having reckless drivers in general and that has to change.

I will still be answering questions today, so please keep going people
but as we are here
I gave answers to alot of questions asked today in this interviews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ztI2u_Ta4

Also please engage and follow me on other socials, twitter: GRVlagos https://twitter.com/GRVlagos to follow my camapign and discuss the issues.

Lincton:
What would you do differently if you were given the opportunity to serve?

Would you complete the established projects in the state?

the most different thing I will do differently is offer transparency in budgets and projects, as it stands projects in lagos cost 3x/4x the world bank benchmarks, grossly overinflated and always taking way over time to be delivered. I will emphasise partnerships with the private sector without the state taking a chunk of the business and add transparency to contractor selection process. Urban renewal and development of other parts of lagos to take pressure off the island and reduce traffic, building a robust intermodal transport network harnessing water networks, buses, tram and rails to make lagos a true working city. As well as working closely with the federal government to revamp the police and also have state and communal policing come into fruition.

projects started by the state will be completed however they will be reviewed, padded budgets and white elephant projects are a rampant issue in lagos and will need to be curtailed

nkemdi89:
What plan do you have for bringing more development to ojo and other sub urban areas within that axis down to badagry?

a big part of my urban and city renewal plan for lagos will be to revezatlize ojo, badagary, ikorodu and other areas, commerce and tourism is far too concentrated in too few areas in lagos along with providing incentives for businesses to open in these areas will work on transport networks so that these areas can handle increased mobility and alleviate pressure from the stressed city centers. I am committed to a diverse and robust lagos that works for all

kkkp:
How do you intend to check mate activities of agberos?

Workch:
What would you do to stop institutionalized transport worker thuggery in Lagos state and the multiple taxation they enforce on motorists?

A massive and well placed concern on here is the issues of "agberos" in Lagos, who have state protection and cover, under my governorship we are going to change this, we are going to create a 2 year window for these mostly young men to be retrained and given useful life skills and provide them with a proper path that will be to the benefit to us all in society, through artisanship, vocations, trade, communal policing and more, many of these young men have not been giving viable and safe alternatives to live and sustain themselves, the use of them as an extra arm of the government to intimidate and extract resources from the general public has to end and will end under my governship

Hello everyone , please let us not resort to insults
at the core we all want a better lagos and nigeria and we can have that

In regards to end sars, a shooting did happen, and a panel set up by the government corrobarates that, the army was invited by the sitting governor, this is not hearsay, this was what a panel set up by this very government presented to the world

https://www.icirnigeria.org/lagos-endsars-panel-indicts-sanwo-olu-in-armys-intervention-at-lekki-toll-gate/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7zS9zlwXf4

REDshouse:
And seun where is ur labour candidate ...has he bolted


Or he is Pilling up questions to be answered at his convenience..


We don't want such type of Governor

Please I advice u close this thread until the candidate have our time

I apologize and thank you all for your patience, I will be taking time to answer questions today, I had townhalls and interviews and engaging with voters meeting , I will have alot of questions answered today

Joevics:
What are your plans for the traffic situation? I know you are an engineer, how can you fix it?

Thank you I schooled in MIT in regards to architecture and a focus on estate. development , I worked on projects in america and even china. The traffic situation in Lagos can be remedied by both short and long term solutions. first we have to decongest business centers and encourage the opening of other business clusters in under-utilised areas, to direct traffic to other areas and relieve pressure from congested areas, improve contract award of road building and repairs so that they can be held accountable when the road washes away quickly. Drainage, lagos is in dire need of good draining and all across the state we need to revamp the drainage system to prevent road damage as well flooding.
Creation of a true intermodal transport network harnessing water, rail, tram and stronger and more robust public transport. The funding for such exists, what it takes is having a government who is committed to making it happen, that is what I and the labour party want to bring to lagos, a truly working lagos for all classes of people, and for all lagosians, not just those on the island.

Seun:
My question:
Considering the strong influence of the APC in Lagos, how do you intend to defeat the sitting APC governor who has recently completed or hastily commissioned many highly visible projects?

Power belongs to the people, and the people want better governance, apc has thoroughly disappointed Nigerians and lagosians, Lagos is ranked as one of the worst cities to live in, and that NEEDS to change , yes commissioning these projects quickly before election is a smart strategy but nigerians know what we have gone through over the last few years. The train commissioning in a vacuum sounds great but on closer inspection, many concerning issues arise from it. The project still can't actually be used by lagosians, has taken over a decade to complete costing 100s of millions of dollars with nothing to show yet. In that time span I can point to comparable projects that have 3x. the distance covered costing less than a third to what was allocated to the project. Projects in lagos are constantly grossly overinflated.
To win I am going to speak DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE , lagosians and nigerians are yearning for change and better governance, it's why the Labour party and peter obi has the nation excited, lagos and nigeria can function better, and we the labour party are here to do that.

Gift96:
1. In October, 2020 some youths protesting against the injustice and police brutality were killed. If elected as the Governor of Lagos state, how do you intend to get justice for those murdered during the EndSars protest

2. what's you view about the government, social media and freedom of speech.

1. Thank you for all these questions, and your patience, I will engage and answer as many of these questions as possible.
the end sars protest was a golden moment and opportunity from this failing government to embrace the youth and partner towards a better Nigeria

I like many of you on here even took part and was completely horrified by the use of army and force to murder peaceful protestors
I will start by recognising what happened, meet with. the families of the bereaved and plot a way forward such peaceful protestors aren't murdered. The true justice would be working closely with the federal government on police reform, with the. establishment of hotlines and agencies designed to handle civilian complaints, retraining and reorientation of security forces and as well as developing state and community police that respect, end sars was born out. of seeking accountability and change, on all levels governance can improve. and that is why I GRV hope to become your governor and serve lagosians to the best of my ability.

2. Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy, I am strong. believer of democracy and believe it's the best form of governance, social media is critical to expression and freedom, and is a strong check to keep governments accountable. I. believe social media is great. for democracies and dialogue, obviously hate speech and misinformation has to be tackled and regulated but that should be more from the companies themselves as. well as independent 3rd parties.