ROBERT OKOROJI, a lawyer, is aspiring to contest the Lagos State governorship in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In this chat with Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, he talks on his programmes and why the All Progressives Congress (APC) will lose the state in 2015.
Emergence of another APGA governorship aspirant
Robert Okoroji
I am waiting for whoever that will indicate interest. The field is open. Any person who is interested in contesting should show up. It doesn’t have to be me alone; but let the party decide who gets the ticket. Ultimately, let the people of Lagos State decide who will be their governor; whether it’s going to be the APGA candidate or that of any other party.
What should be of paramount importance to the people of Lagos are the plans and programmes of whoever wants to lead the state. What issues will such a person be addressing? How is the person going to do better than the out-going government because I can tell you confidently that the APC- led government in Lagos is deeply unpopular at the moment. People are disillusioned, dissatisfied with its programmes which are obviously not people-friendly. Of course, the government has done some things in some areas. It has done its best, which is not good enough.
APGA as a platform in Lagos State
First of all, I am a Nigerian, in every sense of the word. I hail from South East Nigeria. But I have spent over 30 years in South West Nigeria. I had been North-wards. I have been around the world.
What exactly propels me at the moment is that of all the cities in Nigeria, Lagos is probably the most cosmopolitan in terms of the presence of people of different nationalities and races. It’s like a very interesting mix of groups, races, ethnic nationalities in a manner that does not exist anywhere else in the country.
But if you look at Lagos in the last 15 years since the military handed over power in 1999, governance in the state cannot be said to be actually cosmopolitan. So, my mission in politics here in Lagos is to push the strings of democracy a little further, by creating impetus for people of all nationalities in Lagos to participate because participatory democracy is the right thing for us to do.
We have a duty as a people to serve the society, to contribute our own little quota. Nobody has a monopoly of knowledge; but if there is synergy among the various groups and nationalities, you never know where the best ideas that can lift the state could come from. Nigeria is transiting to a more sustainable democratic system where it will no longer matter whether you are of a particular state origin, or religious affiliation, or sex orientation etc. What will matter is that whoever that is qualified in accordance with the laws of the land will participate in leadership recruitment.
Some people ask me why governor; why don’t I start with the local government, House of Assembly or House of Representatives seat? My answer has always been: why not governor? For me, the governorship bid is not my destination; it’s only my starting point. There are instances in history in different countries where people have become presidents without having had any elective positions before.
Programmes on board
First and foremost, I want to give everybody in Lagos a sense of belonging. It’s our collective patrimony and we must contribute in our own respective ways and in accordance with our various capacities to lift the state to get to the next level. That belongingness, that sense of ownership of saying “this is my state” is what I believe will motivate Nigerians who live in Lagos to do their best for the state to be in compliance with the laws of the state, to avoid violations of the rules, to also cease to have this feeling of “oh I don’t come from here, so anything can go wrong in Lagos State”.
Second, Lagos is more than 40 per cent water and yet a sea transport does not compete effectively with the road transport system. That is why you have logjams everywhere, wasting productive hours. I will put a policy in this direction to tackle the situation.
It is part of my programme to provide Lagos with at least 5,000 megawatts of electricity in my first three years in office. Thank God, the federal government has unbundled the power sector and given impetus to the private sector to invest, so Lagos is a stakeholder. The state owns its power distribution system at the moment.
If we do the right things, we can provide enabling environment for businesses to flow in. A lot of businesses left Lagos in a couple of years now for Ghana. So, I will address the issue of power, and this will excite a multiplier effect on our employment data. There will be employment creation. As long as our youths, graduates roam the streets, the tendency is for them to take to negativities, crimes and then they will be a menace to the society. That is what we want to discourage.
It is also part of my programme to make the study of History compulsory in our institutions. We need to encourage Nigerians to know a bit of the history of the country, so that they can learn from the mistakes of the past.
If you look at Lagos, a lot of people would tell you the state cannot possibly invest in the agriculture sector. No country survives without paying adequate attention to its agriculture sector. Lagos has the capacity, more than any other state, in terms of financial capacity. Lagos can get lands for agricultural produce from Ogun State and in other parts of the country, invest in them and create employment.
Squaring up against APC
If the APC had in the past attracted the interest of Nigerians in buying into its programmes, it has actually lost the interest of the people. The party today is deeply unpopular and people are disillusioned with what the party has done so far. The grassroots are even more dissatisfied with the party.
I can tell you that the APC is not going to produce the next governor of Lagos. Its antecedents have shown that indeed it is not people-focused, not people-friendly in its policies. Look at the tax policies, multiple taxation and all the selective enforcements. APC government in Lagos is run like a mafia business. When the time comes, people will look for a change. When the people desire change, the structure you are talking about will be a liability. The people will vote for your ability, credibility and competence in the next election. So, your name, antecedents etc may be a burden.
