The gubernatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP in Kwara State for the 2023 election, Alhaji Hakeem Oladimeji Lawal has restated his commitment to restore the fortune of the North Central State and bring it back to the path of progress and prosperity.
Lawal, who spoke at an interactive session with media executives and journalists in Ilorin, the State capital on Wednesday, explained that the dynamics of the present realities require that things must be done differently to get a refreshing results to positively affect the lives of the people.
He stated that his three-point agenda of infrastructural development, industrialization and human capital development stand as the primary foundations on which he intends to build his administration should he be elected Kwara’s next Executive Governor.
In order to secure a solid financial base for the state, the SDP candidate projected a revenue target of about N10 billion from the current N2 billion Internally Generated Revenue, IGR of the State.
According to him, “what our administration would do is to block all loopholes, reduce activities of consultants in revenue generation and motivate staff of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS). This will help the state accrue more revenue because consultants will only take a percentage of want they collect. We will also improve staff welfare and reward excellent performance by civil servants.
“And when it comes to taxation, we realized that every single civil servant get taxed, but the private sector don’t get being taxed sufficiently. Why? This must be corrected.”
On education and human capital development, he stated that he will provide a solution for Kwarans on the basis of education. “It means we must revive our Technical Schools and Colleges. As of today, our people can hardly compete when it comes to technical know-how. If you look at the Building Industry for instance, many of the professionals competing there are from places like Republic of Benin, Togo Ghana, etc.
“In order for us to move forward and regain the glory of the past, we must first begin to re-assess ourselves and set up the same modules across these areas. It has worked for us in the past and must work for us again,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Architect Kale Belgore, the Director-General (Operations) of the SDP Campaign Council emphasized that the party remained the only credible alternative for Kwarans in the present circumstances. According to him, “the O to ge revolution of 2019 that enthroned the present administration in the state was a collective struggle, but regrettably, we are on a differently lane today. We are lucky to have Lawal and the party took the right decision to field Lawal, because he was born and bred in Ilorin and a proud son of Kwara.”
Journalists at the event also bared their minds, restating their commitment to balance reportage of news irrespective of the political parties in line with the ethics of their profession and constitutional requirements.
