Four candidates in the 2019 general elections seeking to become the governor of Lagos State, on Sunday, clashed in a debate organised by ‘The Platform’, powered by Covenant Christian Centre, at Iganmu.
The candidates – Jimi Agbaje of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); Babajide Sanwo-Olu, All Progressives Congress (APC); Babatunde Gbadamosi, Action Democratic Party (ADP), and Owolabi Salis, Alliance for Democracy (AD) – all agreed on the troubling traffic situation in the state and the urgent need to address it.
Agbaje said he would introduce functional rail system and ensure the development of far-flung areas of the state to check the concentration of people in the urban centre.
On education, Agbaje said if elected, he would introduce technology to the system and ensure that every primary school in the state is connected to the internet.
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He also promised to expand the health sector by running a system that allows general health practitioners partner with the government.
Agbaje equally promised to collaborate with the private sector to develop the housing sector as well as increase tax revenues to government.
His APC challenger, Sanwo-Olu, on his part, promised the expansion of the waterways and completion of the Blue Line rail system started 10 years ago but still not finished.
On taxation, Sanwo-Olu said more people would be brought into the tax net.
He said only 8,000 people currently pay taxes in Lagos, out of a population of 21 million, a situation he said would be changed by fast-tracking development to encourage people to pay their taxes.
The APC governorship candidate also promised to increase budgetary allocation to the education sector to 12 percent, from about 8 percent seen in the past few years.
On his part, Gbadamosi of the ADP said if elected, his government would empower the local governments to handle primary education.
He also promised to address the brain drain in the health sector by encouraging medical doctors practising outside Nigeria to return.
He said the money being paid to a tax consultant in Lagos, Alpha Beta, would be stopped and ploughed back into the system to impact the lives of Lagosians positively.
Salis, on his part, said he would bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and ensure that revenues accruing to government do not go into private pockets. He alleged that such was the case in the state at present, a situation which, he said, stifles the pace of development.
