₦airaland Forum

The idea of government collecting fines directly from bank accounts is a huge NO! NO! It is draconian and subject to abuse. Do it the American way. Hunt down offending vehicles and impound them until owner pays.

And how does a state running an N800 billion budget spend N200 billion on CCTV? Come on, give us a break, biko!

Beautiful. Really beautiful. This will help decongest traffic in that axis and curb man-hour loss. Great job by Ganduje

fernandez1:
And where's that dullard Solomon dalung

I guess it was a Ministry of Works show, which may be why Babatunde Fashola, as the relevant Minister, represented the Federal Government. But you are right, it was a Sports affair and Dalung should have handled proceedings. Whatever be the case, Westerhoff is the beneficiary

What if... just what if the lady is found to be actually innocent later on, what will the guy do?

After all, it would not be the first time humans would lie against a fellow being. People can spread fake rumours about a non-existent infidelity for a myriad of reasons -mischief, envy, jealousy, revenge, bad blood. What if the guy had been sold fake information about his woman's infidelity, and she did not commit the crime she is being accused of. The man has reacted this way publicly, disgracing her. What if he finds out tomorrow that he had been misinformed, what would he then do?

Bottom line? The groom should have privately tackled this issue and if he found her guilty as reported, he should have done away with her privately. That should have saved his own face and that of everyone involved in this tragedy.

The Federal Government on Monday in Abuja presented documents of the apartment promised to former Super Eagles’ chief coach Clemens Westerhof for leading the team to world glory in 1994.

Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, who made the presentation on behalf of government said it was regrettable that a promise took so long to redeem.

“It is unfortunate that this is a promise that has taken us so long to redeem. But it is indeed better late than never in this case,’’ he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Westerhof, a native of Holland, had in 1994 led the senior male national football team to Nigeria’s second continental triumph.

The team had won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at Tunisia, coming 14 years after the first triumph in Lagos in 1980.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/05/27/clemens-westerhoff-gets-documents-for-house-gift-25-years-after/

APC lost to its penchant for impunity and rubbishing internal democracy

Dumb or daredevil, the CJN making that visit was the mother of all gaffes.

I hope he will go should Atiku also invite him.

By their look you shall know them: Two prayer warriors, aging with grace. May God bless them and their generations in Jesus name

Sniper gulping is just one of the 1000 ways to die. You will need to also ban...

Ropes
Trees
Ceiling Fans
Guns
Petrol
Cars and their fumes
Gamalin 20
Cars, buses, trailers, lorries, trains
Rivers
Lakes
Lagoons
Oceans
Razor Blades
Acid
Bathtubs
Medicines like Valium
Electricity
Bombs
Snakes
Poisons

The way suicides have made it first choice, Sniper insecticide may just be attracting unhealthy attention from the authorities. Many Nigerians committing suicide have taken to gulping down the substance, with a highly fatal result.

Relatively new in the market, Sniper appears to have been formulated along the line of Otapiapia, which was also a local anti-pest solution. Otapiapia also in the 1980s and 1990s became a favourite suicide tool, especially in the South-East. Sniper seems to have taken over.

Should the government clamp down on Sniper, it may be shutting down a good business, resulting in job losses, investment trapping, with wide implications for those servicing and benefiting down the product's supply chain.

But this raises several questions.

Is there an iron-clad case to call for banning the production and sales of Sniper?

Does Sniper account for the majority of deaths and is Sniper the only way out for people bent on committing harakiri?

Should the manufacturers of Sniper be blamed for the abuse of their highly effective insecticide?

What will happen should Sniper be banned and depressed and desperate people embrace some other solutions?

On the plaque, GCSI!

Or did they mean GCFR?

JasonScoolari:
Give the Credit to @RenoOmokri.

Even @RenoOmokri is not the originator. He cannot claim the copyright, having copied it from somewhere himself.

Justice Okon Abang says Saraki/Dogara were wrong to defect to PDP, but Akpabio was right crossing to the ruling party APC.

One day, Abang will leave the Judiciary or the Judiciary will leave him and then he will know just how much he sold his soul to the Devil.

Let us assume that former President Jonathan did promise such money, it would be conditional. It was premised on Miyetti Allah supporting his ambition and helping him to win? Did he win? No. Since he lost, no deal. Case closed! Shikena!

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Chatting with friends somewhere and then the conversation suddenly turned from the state of the nation to the impunity of politicians.

Someone asked out of the blue: "The greatest fear of a Judge just befell Onnoghen -the fear of being brought before another Judge and getting the dose of his own medicine!"

"Are you sure that is his greatest fear? But you, what is your own greatest fear?"

Someone said poverty, another mentioned divorce, another said amputation, someone recalled the viral Ethiopian B737 crash and imagined living through the final moments.

"Mine is to wake up after being buried to find myself alone in the coffin," one man volunteered.

"I dread ending up in hellfire."

Nairalander, what is your greatest fear? Share it with us.

Yoruba people, I guess, call this stuff KAFURA. It is a tab of menthol substance and they say it is medicinal, sometimes, added to Agbo.

Please, Nairalanders, what is it called medically and what does it do in healthcare?

Adetola Nola is an innovative entrepreneur who founded Veritasi Homes –one of the fastest rising real estate firms in Nigeria. As the CEO of Veritasi, he brings a plethora of knowledge and expertise to facilitate the growth of the Nigerian real estate industry. In this interview, the visionary business leader with a passion for excellence shares some insights on his journey into entrepreneurship and how he got into the Nigerian real estate industry.

Tell us a little about your academic background.
I studied Chemical Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. I have a certificate in strategic leadership from Manchester Metropolitan University. I just got certifications in finance and management from the London School of Business and Finance. I am currently doing a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst - level 1). I have also attended a lot of seminars and training sessions locally and internationally.

What’s your professional background?
I worked in the PPNP department of NNPC, Ibadan for a year. Although I was an intern, I was managing a department. It was there, I understood the power of networking. After I left NNPC, I came to Lagos and started a fashion business with my friend. When I was in school, I was into designing female wears - so I understood the business. We started off buying our shirts and shoes at affordable prices from a distant market. Then, we would repackage them for resale at a sizeable profit margin. In a matter of time, our demand grew. And we started making our own shoes.

How did you venture into real estate?
While retailing shoes, I met Hakeem Bakare and sold some pairs of shoes to him. I sold the shoes so well that he felt I could sell real estate. In his words: “I want you to be on my team”.

Real estate was something that I was interested in, but I had always thought one needed a lot of money to start. I seized the opportunity and started with a friend of mine who also now owns a real estate firm.
Starting off our career in real estate, was tough. For the first six months, there was no sale, but we kept pushing. I made my first sale in the eighth month. I had given up. I wouldn’t even go to the office for three days in a row, sometimes. Hakeem (whom I still consider a mentor till date) would call me to come back. Set up a meeting to re-strategize and force us keep pushing. One day, I was reading a sales book by Brian Tracy at Neo Cafe in Sanusi Fafunwa. A man walked in and asked: “those books, do they really work?”. I said: “I think they work sometimes,” so we got talking. He came to buy coffee. Immediately he left, the guy that sells coffee hinted me that he was a billionaire with multiple investments in real estate. I went after him and pushed till I got a deal. The term of the deal was that I should liquidate some of his properties in Lagos, and if I was able to do that, he would buy from me. I was able to sell two of his properties at premium locations. That was how I started selling houses.

How did you start your company?
Hakeem and I won the best sales team award at Grenadines with an all-expense paid trip to Dubai as an incentive. On the Dubai trip, I met a man who had a lot of landed properties in Lagos. Then, I only knew how to sell houses. So I contacted all the real estate companies selling lands in Lagos and set up meetings with them. I facilitated projects for some of these companies. We decided to start Veritasi because I had gained a lot of knowledge about real estate.

What’s The Biggest Risk You’ve Ever Taken?
The Biggest risk is selling everything I had and borrowing a lot of money from family and friends to start Veritasi. Prior to starting the company, I had two cars and a shoe factory. I sold the cars, all the machines, the generators, and all the shoes I had imported. I also borrowed money from a friend of mine called Ife. If the business had failed, I would probably have committed suicide (laughs), but then, I wouldn’t have, anyway, because Veritasi would be about the about fifth company I started.

Did all the other businesses fail?
Well, it depends on your definition of failure. All the other businesses were learning grounds for us. They failed, but they taught me a lot of things. Because when I started Veritasi, I understood business dynamics and a lot of other things. I am trying to resurrect one or two.

What’s your definition of success?
For me, success equals purpose fulfilment. My purpose is to touch lives through entrepreneurship. One of the reasons I started my travel company, Nola Travels, is to be able to employ smart graduates roaming the street due to unemployment. I would say that I am successful when I can create a system that provides help for a lot of people. In the real estate market, I would also say that Veritasi is successful when it can solve the housing problems of middle and low-income earners in Nigeria.

What’s the next big move for Veritasi?
We are providing housing solutions via Green Energy. We want to replicate noiseless and smart homes in Nigeria. We hope to achieve that in Q2 this year.

Why Green Energy?
Our company is known for innovation and pacesetting. We want to introduce fast buildings into the Nigerian real estate market, like “fast fashion” - meaning fashion that goes and comes back. Top brands like Zara sell products they can replicate in three days because they are fast. In a similar vein, we can deliver "fast buildings" in two months, while the conventional real estate company delivers in two years.

How do you think the Nigerian audience will embrace this?
Well, I think changes are very difficult to embrace in every part of the world. We have a market penetration strategy centred around creating a shift in mindset and acceptance for smart homes. These are houses that people stay in when they travel abroad. They’ve stood the test of time and have withstood different weather conditions. Smart homes are cost-effective, timely in delivery and durable. The buildings are lightweight and resistant to earthquakes. We want to develop a community that has its own electricity. Once it picks up, nobody will go back to the archaic way of building.

What sets you apart from other real estate companies?
It is innovation. We are fast in responding to what the world is saying about real estate, and we put customer experience at utmost. We’ve got a lot of clients - over a thousand. In December 2018, I was a part of the team that called them, and more than 70% of our clients were happy about our services. Of course, you cannot make everybody happy, but at least make most people happy.

What should a company partnering with you look forward to?
Excellence and best practice, if we are going to do anything, we do it the best way it can be done in Nigeria and globally. I am a perfectionist, and I take nothing short of excellence.

Please, what is the meaning of "Onwuasoigwe?"

The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje, has protested the meeting arranged between his arch rival and All Progressives Congress Candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Lagos civil servants, which ended up in officials scampering for bags of branded rice.

Agbaje also blasted the APC for sending police and thugs to bar a “Free Lagos” Press Conference slated for the Lagos Airport Hotel in Ikeja.

“It is the mother of all ironies that on the same day that APC organised an illegal meeting for its candidate, it was sending a combined team of cops and hoodlums to dislodge an event organised by bonafide Nigerian citizens,” Agbaje noted.

Planned for Thursday afternoon, the meeting with Sanwo-Olu quickly turned into a melee as the gathered Lagos officials threw caution to the wind, storming lorry loads of rice contained in bags that bore the APC logo.

Agbaje said APC designed Sanwo-Olu’s rice gift to bury 20 years in which Lagos officials had been treated like trash and subjected to sordid conditions like nepotism, over-taxation, denial of promotion, delayed promotions and deprivation of leave and end-of-year bonuses.

According to Agbaje, who spoke in a press statement by his spokesman, Felix Oboagwina, Sanwo-Olu’s gesture violated civil service decorum and neutrality.

His words: “We find the invitation and the rice gift appalling, opportunistic and illegal. In a political contest of the nature in which Sanwo-Olu and the rest of us are involved, he has been offered an undue advantage. An uneven playing field has been created. And this is condemnable and contemptible.

“The gesture goes against Nigeria’s bureaucratic statutes that forbid civil servants romancing politics. For crying out loud, there are still regulations preventing civil servants from involving in politics. That invitation and the rice gifts is a violation of those extant rules.”

Agbaje posited that civil servants who maintained a neutrality and refused to show up for the meeting stood the grave danger of being marked down for discrimination, intimidation and witch-hunting.

According to him, it was to maintain neutrality and decorum that soldiers and police were similarly barred from involvement in politics, and politicians prevented from campaigning in uniformed personnel’s barracks and formations.

“It is a shame to see civil servants struggling and hurting themselves just to get a small bag of Sanwoolu rice, but it is even more shameful to subject the crop of Nigeria’s middle-class to such an indignity,” Agbaje said.

On police and thugs aborting the event organised by the “Orange Movement for a Free Lagos State,” Agbaje said the cancellation violated the fundamental rights of the citizens to associate and hold opinions, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

The event ran under the theme: “Setting Lagos Free from Bourdillon Bondage, #OtogeLagos.”

“It is an assault on Freedom of Speech. And every day, we witness the frontiers of Nigerians’ freedom being eroded by a privileged minority that takes special delight in subjecting citizens to impunity and corruption,” Agbaje lamented. “APC further assaulted our collective freedom by Thursday’s order to police to bar an event where Nigerians wanted planned to legitimately express themselves. We roundly condemn APC for this. And we call upon all Nigerians and the international community to condemn this high-handed and draconian clampdown.”

The press conference was organised by a group known as: “Orange Movement for a Free Lagos State,” with the theme: “Setting Lagos free from Bourdillon Bondage, #OtogeLagos.”

Agbaje particularly lamented that police aligned with thugs to disperse the Free Lagos event.

“It is scandalous and a serious cause for concern that under the APC regime, a joint collaboration between police and hoodlums has been forged against the Nigerian citizen,” he lamented. “Thuggery and violence have been turned into state policy.”

The Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje, has protested the meeting arranged between his arch rival and All Progressives Congress Candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Lagos civil servants, which ended up in officials scampering for bags of branded rice.

Agbaje also blasted the APC for sending police and thugs to bar a “Free Lagos” Press Conference slated for the Lagos Airport Hotel in Ikeja.

“It is the mother of all ironies that on the same day that APC organised an illegal meeting for its candidate, it was sending a combined team of cops and hoodlums to dislodge an event organised by bonafide Nigerian citizens,” Agbaje noted.

Planned for Thursday afternoon, the meeting with Sanwo-Olu quickly turned into a melee as the gathered Lagos officials threw caution to the wind, storming lorry loads of rice contained in bags that bore the APC logo.

Agbaje said APC designed Sanwo-Olu’s rice gift to bury 20 years in which Lagos officials had been treated like trash and subjected to sordid conditions like nepotism, over-taxation, denial of promotion, delayed promotions and deprivation of leave and end-of-year bonuses.

According to Agbaje, who spoke in a press statement by his spokesman, Felix Oboagwina, Sanwo-Olu’s gesture violated civil service decorum and neutrality.

His words: “We find the invitation and the rice gift appalling, opportunistic and illegal. In a political contest of the nature in which Sanwo-Olu and the rest of us are involved, he has been offered an undue advantage. An uneven playing field has been created. And this is condemnable and contemptible.

“The gesture goes against Nigeria’s bureaucratic statutes that forbid civil servants romancing politics. For crying out loud, there are still regulations preventing civil servants from involving in politics. That invitation and the rice gifts is a violation of those extant rules.”

Agbaje posited that civil servants who maintained a neutrality and refused to show up for the meeting stood the grave danger of being marked down for discrimination, intimidation and witch-hunting.

According to him, it was to maintain neutrality and decorum that soldiers and police were similarly barred from involvement in politics, and politicians prevented from campaigning in uniformed personnel’s barracks and formations.

“It is a shame to see civil servants struggling and hurting themselves just to get a small bag of Sanwoolu rice, but it is even more shameful to subject the crop of Nigeria’s middle-class to such an indignity,” Agbaje said.

On police and thugs aborting the event organised by the “Orange Movement for a Free Lagos State,” Agbaje said the cancellation violated the fundamental rights of the citizens to associate and hold opinions, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

The event ran under the theme: “Setting Lagos Free from Bourdillon Bondage, #OtogeLagos.”

“It is an assault on Freedom of Speech. And every day, we witness the frontiers of Nigerians’ freedom being eroded by a privileged minority that takes special delight in subjecting citizens to impunity and corruption,” Agbaje lamented. “APC further assaulted our collective freedom by Thursday’s order to police to bar an event where Nigerians wanted planned to legitimately express themselves. We roundly condemn APC for this. And we call upon all Nigerians and the international community to condemn this high-handed and draconian clampdown.”

The press conference was organised by a group known as: “Orange Movement for a Free Lagos State,” with the theme: “Setting Lagos free from Bourdillon Bondage, #OtogeLagos.”

Agbaje particularly lamented that police aligned with thugs to disperse the Free Lagos event.

“It is scandalous and a serious cause for concern that under the APC regime, a joint collaboration between police and hoodlums has been forged against the Nigerian citizen,” he lamented. “Thuggery and violence have been turned into state policy.”

AGBAJE SAYS POSTPONEMENT IS SHOCKING, AN INTERNATIONAL EMBARASSMENT

The Governorship Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has expressed disappointment and shock over the postponement of Nigeria’s elections.

“We are disappointed as well as shocked that right on the eve of the polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can so summarily postpone elections that have taken so long for everyone to prepare for. This is not good for our democracy,” Agbaje said in a statement by his Director of Media and Publicity, Felix Oboagwina.

According to him, the postponement was capable of eroding confidence in the entire electoral process, apart from damaging the credibility of INEC.

“This can put a question mark on even the results of the elections, especially if, God forbid, it now favours the ruling party,” the PDP chieftain said.

He said the commission had given no hint it would be a barren weekend for Nigerians geared up to vote.

“To voters and politicians, this comes as a rude anti-climax, especially as the INEC Chairman, Dr. Mahmood Yakubu, had always given assurances and expressed confidence that the process was tight, right and ready. International observers and the world Press are on ground. The whole world has its sight glued to Nigeria; and then you come up with this type of narrative about shoddy logistics. It is a shock. This came completely from the blue.”

According to Agbaje, the INEC Chairman, who had held his post since October 2015, and his team, should have been on top of their game by perfecting all necessary arrangements.

Agbaje further said: “Although we shall refuse to subscribe to any conspiracy theories about the ruling party pressuring the commission to do any last-minute tinkering with the timetable in view of an imminent defeat, this still leaves room for suspicion. After all, we are not reinventing the wheel. This disarray represents an international embarrassment to the entire nation. Lesser nations have successfully conducted elections. At 20 years of this subsisting democracy, elections ought to be routine, something we should be taking in our strides.

“However, this will make Nigerians realise that democracy will not be given on a platter of gold. We must see this as a clarion call not to relent in demanding that the sanctity of elections and democracy must be guaranteed.”

Agbaje also spoke of the consequences of the postponement that, he said, would end up disenfranchising many voters.

“This will throw our people into a dilemma, especially people who traveled. Will they now return to base or will they be determined enough to remain in their voting constituencies for one full, unplanned, week in order to cast their vote?” he wondered.

He hoped INEC would use the breathing space offered by the shift to deliver a credible, free and fair election.

“As they say, to whom much is given, much is expected. With this postponement, INEC has no excuse for failure,” Agbaje said. “The commission must plug all loopholes for rigging and guarantee confidence in the electoral process and the subsequent result."

FELIX OBOAGWINA
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AND PUBLICITY, JIMI AGBAJE CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Candidate for Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, took his town hall meeting to his home constituency, Apapa, on Friday, saying, government’s clearing the area of its legendary traffic gridlock ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Saturday visit was an act of hypocrisy and wickedness.

He accused authorities of paying deaf ears to residents and businesses suffering all this while, only to clear Apapa highways of heavy articulated vehicles because the President was paying a campaign visit to Lagos.

Agbaje, who lives and runs his pharmaceutical company in the famous port town of Apapa, promised that the area’s traffic logjam would become history under his reign.

According to Agbaje, the disappearance of the usual traffic standstill ahead of Buhari’s visit tomorrow meant that authorities were wicked and had only left residents and businesses to suffer deliberately.

“Have you noticed that there is no traffic jam in Apapa today?” Agbaje asked, when he addressed the audience at the OC Events Centre on Randle Road, where hundreds had gathered to engage him in the interactive town hall meeting.

“Yes!” the gathering shouted.

He asked: “Why? Because President Muhammadu Buhari is coming, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” came the response.

“It means that these people are wicked people. It means that they are hypocrites. They have refused to clear this traffic all this time, even when they knew they had the solution. So because President Muhammadu Buhari is coming tomorrow, they have cleared the traffic. So when he leaves, they will punish us again.

“We are saying that the traffic situation in Apapa becomes a priority. I am an Apapa person. I stay in Apapa. I work in Apapa. As Governor, I will ensure that this punishment will stop.”

“Amen!” the crowd screamed.

In continuation of his state-wide town hall meetings, Agbaje had arrived OC Events Centre, after a roadshow that wound through the streets, while members of his campaign team distributed branded gifts to hailing constituents.

Several party chieftains joined him in the session, including: PDP Candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly Apapa Constituency 1, Honourable Ede Celestine Ikechukwu, and his counterpart from Apapa Constituency 2, Honourable Olawale Ogunyinka.

The gathering comprised local representatives of: Baales and chiefs, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Muslim clerics, vulganiser association, mechanic association, artisans, parents-teachers’ association, non-indigenes and the business community.

Agbaje vowed that his government would spare no means to upgrade the standard of education in Lagos public schools.

He lamented: “It is unbelievable that in 21st Century Lagos, school students still sit on the ground to take lessons.”

However, he said his education policy would include the training of artisans, and bring them up to international modern standards in order to help them improve their skills, income and welfare.

Agbaje also had scathing words for the APC regime that he accused of withholding the licences of traditional rulers in order to force them to remain loyal.

His words: “Many of you Baales here today do not have your titles gazetted. And this they have deliberately done to serve as a rope they can pull anytime they want to blackmail and compel you to do what they want.”

However, he promised that things would change.

“Our style will be different. We shall accord the traditional institution its deserved honour and role. We shall not resort to arm-twisting in our relationship with our traditional rulers,” promised the PDP Candidate.

FELIX OBOAGWINA
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AND PUBLICITY, JIMI AGBAJE CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION

https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/hypocrites-and-wicked-people-agbaje-blasts-govt-for-clearing-apapa-gridlock-ahead-buhari-visit/

https://theeagleonline.com.ng/ikorodu-stands-still-for-agbaje-as-obi-condemns-military-rule/


The Ayangburen of Ikorodu land, Oba Abd’Kabir Adewela Shotobi, received the Governorship Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Jimi Agbaje, on Tuesday, and used the opportunity to condemn military rule while urging politicians to eschew violence.

Agbaje promised that none of the five divisions of Lagos would lag behind in development under his government.

Ikorodu was on lock down as the PDP candidate visited several leaders, palaces and places in the town in continuation of his state-wide town hall meetings.

The Ayangburen said: “There is no more room for military rule. We have experienced the military but we were worse off during their time. In fact, worldwide military rule has become frowned upon and rejected.”

However, he urged politicians to realise that politics was not a do-or-die affair and only one person would win a contested seat.

His Royal Highness sued for Ikorodu to be considered for development projects and the indigenes for appointment.

He said: “It must be emphasised that Lagos Island is only one of the five divisions in Lagos. Lagos State’s resources must be shared equally amongst all the five divisions. I always pray that an indigene of Ikorodu will be Lagos governor so that we can make demands of him. There should be equitable distribution of Lagos resources among the five divisions.”

Agbaje, who has his maternal roots in Ikorodu, promised that development would not be restricted to Lagos Island but would be evenly distributed.

Saying he counted himself fortunate to visit on the monarch’s birthday, Agbaje led a birthday song for the Oba who turned 62 on Tuesday.

The PDP Governorship Candidate explained the rationale for adopting town hall meetings.

According to him, while rallies were organised by politicians for politicians, town hall meetings afforded the message and manifesto of a candidate to be presented directly to voters through invited representatives of market leaders, community leaders and clerics.

Present on the occasion were: Former Minister of Works, Prince Gbemiga Ogunlewe, Chairman of Ikorodu PDP, Chief Bayo Adekogbe, House of Representatives Candidate 1, Honourable Omotolani Popoola, and House of Assembly Candidate Ikorodu 2, Honourable Biodun Moshood.

Agbaje also visited the palace of His Royal Majesty, Oba Semiu Kasali Orimadegun 1, the Adeboruwa of Igbogbo Kingdom, Oba Obateru Adeoriyomi, the monarch of Ijede, and the Grand Imam of Ikorodu Division, His Eminence, Seifudeed Olowooribi.

Agbaje said that, compared to the Second Republic tenure of Alhaji Lateef Jakande that lasted only four years and recorded landmark achievements, the current stream of leaders had made little developmental impact.

“These ones, who have been there for 20 years cannot boast of any landmark achievements,” he said. “If 20 percent of our children could only manage to score five credits, what is our pride? Where would they qualify to get jobs. Our children still sit on the floor and some sit under the trees to learn. All this is happening in Lagos State.”

He vowed that his government’s number one priority would be to enhance the quality of education at all levels, as well as build capacity in skills acquisition.

According to him, efforts would be devoted to reducing the travel time of Ikorodu residents who, he said, studies indicated spent two months of their year on the road because of the problem of traffic jams.

One way of solving the traffic problem, Agbaje proffered, was to ensure that Ikorodu, like all other Lagos divisions, received equal
developmental projects.

His words: “That is the reality. Development should not just be confined to Lagos Island, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Ikeja. But if we develop Ikorodu, citizens would not need to seek jobs in faraway places and they will spend less time in traffic. Right now, the roads are not working and we have slums all over the place.”

He said that the local governments that were only currently dedicated to political mobilisation, would be empowered for service delivery because they were closest to the people.

Telling the monarch that he had for the last 20 years told Lagos authorities that they ran a faulty healthcare model that wound not work, Agbaje said his PDP government planned to run a health insurance scheme that would see government pay the premium for the treatment of people.

He also spoke of plans to improve power by 3,000 in his four years, saying, therein lay the road to improving industry and employment.

“There are two kinds of politicians, the developmental and the selfish. Jakande was for development. We are for development too,” Agbaje said. “I am a son of Ikorodu. And there is no where I go that I don’t talk of my origin. And no way will I be in government that Ikorodu will lag behind.”

The Grand Imam of Ikorodu Division, His Eminence, Seifudeed Olowooribi, told Agbaje, “I salute your tenacity. Nothing good comes easy. I commend your not giving up. May God assist you. And may the elections be peaceful with no violence.”

FELIX OBOAGWINA
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AND PUBLICITY