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Giwa-Amu: ADC govt’ll guarantee common good for Lagosians

Mr. Rosemary Giwa- Amu is the deputy governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos State. In this interview with BIYI ADEGOROYE, she speaks about the state’s huge debt profile, developmental issues and the party’s chances in the 2023 elections

 

How do you see women’s participation in politics?

It is a welcome development which needs even more encouragement in our country. It confirms the equality of dignity and opportunity, upon which all civil and democratic societies are founded.

It confirms and consolidates the fact that all citizens, regardless of their gender, have a fundamental right to decide who governs them and how they are governed; how our common and public goods and resources are distributed, directed and utilized, all for the common good.

The common good of course includes the issues of peace, justice and equity; security of life and property for every citizen, most especially those who are poor and vulnerable.

Why does your party want to govern Lagos State?

The time has come, and it is now, for a positive and progressive change forward for the benefit of all Lagosians, and not just for a few, selected or privileged individuals or families and their small clique of friends or cronies.

My party wants to take up the leadership and governance of Lagos because we have what it takes to realise the social and secure dream of every Lagosian; farmers, traders, youths, employed or non-employed, students, workers of every kind, transporters, politicians, members of all strands of civil society and non-governmental organisations, among others.

What is your impression about the level of development in Lagos as against its population and the revenue available to the state?

We commend what has been done by previous governments, but we believe that given the huge potentials, capacities and resources of Lagos, much is yet and can still be done, especially to ensure that everyone is an active and joyful beneficiary.

 

As ADC, we don’t want the wealth of Lagos to be concentrated in and upheld in the tight grip of only a few individuals or families. Our principle, based on justice and equity, is that what belongs to all should reach and enrich all concerned. We as a party will create the structures and a fair, secure and enabling environment to ensure the realisation of our social and collective dream.

What is your view about the failure to grant financial autonomy to local governments?

 

If we rightly understand representative democracy and the principles of autonomy and subsidiarity, then the tier of government at the local level deserves financial and other forms of autonomy in as much as our constitution specifies and directs. We are not running a monarchy or a military government.

If we claim we’re running a three-tier form of government and that there is a functional system of checks and balances, then no level of government should be seen to be tyrannical, dictatorial or totalitarian. All the different tiers are meant to have semi-autonomy, but all work harmoniously for the common good.

The same is true and should apply to the other tiers or arms of the democratic system; the executive, legislature and judiciary. They are meant to enjoy constitutional autonomy and yet to work as one harmonious organic system for the common good. Our democracy is yet to fully realise, ensure and assuredly promote these ideals.

Lagos’ debt, local and foreign, is over N750 billion. What is your impression about this?

First off, it is expected that for a state with a mega city like Lagos, borrowing from external sources is necessary for a lot of things. Lagos is the melting pot of Nigeria into which people from other areas of the country flock in continuous day-by-day traffic.

So, a lot of money has to be utilised to build and maintain the heavily challenged infrastructure – health, road, education and others that should carry this huge population of over 20 million people and still growing. So, it’s not the volume of the loans taken that matters, but how the money is utilised.

Therefore, my principal and I will give this process very close attention when we get into office later this year towards ensuring that the good people of the state get the greatest value and benefit from the loans.

We will of course also study the types of loans, their sources, repayment schedules and other allied matters to ensure responsible and judicious handling. For instance, while not meaning to pick any issues with some of the projects that have been carried out with some of these loans, we cannot but turn our focus on how they were executed.

The almost completed Red Line of the Lagos Light Rail Project comes to mind here as there have been reports of over-expenditure on this project.

We will have to look into such matters.

How would you react to the N2.8 trillion budget of the state for 2023?

The budget, being the lifeline for the very existence and continuous well-being of the state will, of course, get our priority attention.

First, if you compare this budget number with that of last year, you will see that the increase is not so phenomenal for a state like Lagos.

We will however go through, sector by sector, with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that it is the kind of budget that will provide adequately for the wellbeing of the good people of the state. We note, for instance, the plan to source N350 billion from external and domestic loans and bonds.

Although it is stated that this is within the state’s fiscal sustainability parameters, still we will need to find out what it is all about. After these initial efforts to check and ascertain all the parameters of the budget, we will then get down to the real business of implementation.

How do you think you can wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has been in power in Lagos since 1999?

I will not use the word ‘wrest’ for what we stand for and what we are asking of the good people of Lagos. We are not in a wrestling contest and we are certainly not asking our people to give us power through acts of violence or ballot-box snatching. Gone and forever gone should be the days of those crude ways of obtaining political power and control.

Our people, especially the poor and defenceless have lost their lives and property in crude and uncivilized acts like that. ADC stands for civility, truth and trust. We promote social justice, truth, peace and other social virtues, worthy of a virtuous and godly society. For that reason, we are not going to ‘wrest’ power.

We are asking good Lagosians to respectfully, trustingly confide in us. They should peacefully elect and entrust us with the power that is rightfully theirs. We are asking them to employ us and to hold us accountable while we deploy the electoral power they delegate to us for use to ensure and secure their common good.

Some state offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have come under attack in recent times. What do you think is the way out of this?

I think it is an appalling situation reminiscent of the NECOM House fires of the early 80s. Perpetrators should be fished out and prosecuted with heavy prison sentences to act as a deterrent.

How reliable do you think Nigeria’s democratic process is?

To a very large extent, I think that the democratic process can be relied upon. We have successfully held elections and changed governments. But we still have more to do about free and fair elections.

 

The power is in the hands of the people, and that is the reason we are asking Nigerians to use their votes wisely. However, democracy is a process, and with time and the right leaders, we will succeed as a nation.

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