 I will make water transport effective," says the SDP governorship candidate, Kunle Uthman. Tonight, we discuss the Lagos governorship race and the SDP's plans for 2023. I have done well, says Bahari. And this is Plus Politics. I am Mary Anacorn. 15 of the 18 political parties will be fielding candidates for next year's governorship elections in Lagos State. The parties, according to a list published by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the All Progressive Congress, APC, the People's Democratic Party, PDB, the Accord Party, the African Action Congress, the African Democratic Congress, amongst others. Now, the Social Democratic Party, Lagos governorship candidate, Mr. Kunle Uthman has promised to make water transportation effective if voted into office in 2023. Uthman, who also lamented the filth and dirt in the state, promised to create mass jobs for use by engaging them in cleaning Lagos. While joining us live in the studio this evening is the SDP governorship candidate for Lagos State, Chief Kunle Uthman. It's good to have you join us in the studio. Good evening. Nice to be here. Great. So, a lot of promises being made. This is nothing new to the political scene. Promises are always made if you finally get into office. But let me start from the basics. Why do you want to be the Lagos State governor? Well, good evening. I'm an indigent of Lagos State. My father is from here. My mother is from here. I did my primary education at the Riti Primary School in Nikoi. From where I proceeded to the prestigious Methodist Boys High School. So, I spend the better part of my life in Lagos. So, I can feel the pulse of the city. And not just the city itself, but I agree I was in Nikoi, it could do at several times when I grew up. So, I have a good understanding of what this state involves. And I remember as a young man, Lagos as it was then and what it has become now. And I believe that we have to do a lot of cleaning up. There's been a vast generation of a well-planned city with infrastructural facilities with good roads, pipe-borne water to a dirty city, a toxic city, and insecurity where we can no longer move without fearing. So, I believe that me, I am one of the best-seated persons to clean the state up because I have experience. And I was in government when I was 35 as personal assistant to the minister of transport and aviation under the ING. From there, I proceeded to become the personal assistant to the minister of power and steel. So, I understand Nepal and its problems. And during the period of Babatunilash Rajifashala as governor of Lagos State, I also served as a commissioner in the Lagos State Judicial Service Commission. And also, more importantly, I was part of a team of people that were brought together to look at the state and put up a mega city formula for the state and all the indices of mega city, I understand it. I understand policy control. I understand that 12 years ago, some of us, we sat down and we looked at Lagos from the perspective of Lagos as it should be. And we drafted out the policy control, building control for the state to ensure that buildings will never ever fall. But it was, it's quite traumatizing. And before the 12 years after these policies were put in place, we have been having collapse building every time, everywhere, especially during the tenure of this governor. We sat down one day, 21 story building came crashing down. 21 stories, my dear. Not two, not four, 21, it came down. And there was loss of lives. We sat down one day again. Abutimita had his own problem. Mengya had his own problem. Last week, seven story building came crashing down This is not the Lagos of our dreams. We want a place that will be secured for our people, for people who also come from other parts of the country to do business here, to live here. We want them to feel secure because Lagos is a cosmopolitan place and it is the Komai Sha, nerve center of the federal republic of Nigeria. More importantly, we want it to be such a place that people coming, foreigners coming from all over the world to enjoy the aquatic splendor of what Lagos did should be. And we believe that this government, this particular one has failed the people. Every morning, we hear people from urban medicine to acquire four hours from everywhere in Lagos there is traffic red luck. I experienced it myself. I went to acquire and between the Lagos, let you where I live, it took me six hours. So we have a city that is not planned. This planlessness is not only the island, you go to Korodu is the same story. You go to Badagri is the same story. You go to Ekpe, you go everywhere. It is a disjointed city where the sporadic development without a proper articulated plan for the city. And I believe that it can no longer be business as usual. That this particular APC government in Lagos that has failed us, it is a true. It's been coming from Kuala Meditinubu, came to Fashala after that was Hamburg and then the court rate is the present governor. I believe that he should leave and let us have a better city for posterity and for a better environment. There's no healthcare facility in the state. We have water everywhere. We don't have ferries on the road. When I liked it, I teach Jack one day was in government. As civilian governor in this day, there was ferry on the road, Babakikere, Itafaji. They used to come between CNS and other places. There is this development going on at the Dango Teri finery and other developments in Deki Free Trade Zone. When they start operations, we don't know how we are going to move in that axis. There ought to be a coastal road. We have heard about Fort Mainland Bridge. Promises nothing is happening. If you want to go into a papa, it takes you forever to go in and to come out. So there is no vehicular movement and I believe that we can develop the water transportation. The state is dirty. The state is toxic. And there's about no projects everywhere. Sandgrass market was brought down by government a few years ago. Nothing is going on there, nothing, no development. They just dug the place and all the markets we may not bear on the streets. We go from Tinnubu, go towards Martin Street, go down, go to Dusemo, turn into Jankara, smelly, toxic, traffic gridlock everywhere. A part of Jankara completely abandoned. The market has not been built. And when I was a child, I used to go there. So you see, we have legos of, it's not a plant city. And if we want to attain the mega city of our dream, it has to be planned. There has to be good transportation. There has to be good health facilities. There has to be good roads. There has to be, everything has to be in order. We go everywhere in the world and what we see in legos, you can do far, far, far better. I commend him on this Okada issue when he decided to rationalize Okada people and ban them from certain areas because they had become a societal nuisance. But that is not enough. It's more than just throwing people into employment. We have to create jobs. We have to remove agboros from the road, from the parks. We have to ensure that we can move. In those days, you can move from any part of legos at any time of the night. Go to the nightclub at 12 o'clock, midnight, we are moving from one place to the other. So there is an urgent imperative need that we are going to do this. And the SDP government has a manifesto which we believe is going to be a contract with the people. It is a development from the presidential manifesto of the party itself. You know, we have a person inside the world. We have a manifesto at the center. We also have a modified room for the state and we are going to ensure that this manifesto is a contract between us and the people. We do security, later security get worse. We are going to improve the value of the currency, all these promises, as will not be a government of promises. We are going to do it and we are going to put a timeline. Okay. I see that you have named almost all of the problems that legosians are facing. I like it. I like that you've seen all the problem spots. But let's talk about the realities on the ground. Yes. How to go about these things. Let's start with the most teething of problems, which is the roads, the infrastructure. You get close to VGC. You see how bad that spot is. They're trying to fix the road we hear, but then it's causing a whole lot of traffic and then the rains are here and every single place is flooded. Two days ago, if I'm not mistaken, it came, it was raining for hours and both sides of the Lekiekwe Expressway was flooded. So my question is, what would you do about this? Because again, we see parts of legos, beautiful erected buildings, but then there are no drainage systems. But there are building plans for these facilities. I mean, sometimes malls and then the sides of the road that leads to the mall has no drainage system. And the ones who have drainage systems, those drainages have been blocked. Can we really blame government on its own? How about the people who live in Lekos and what are you going to do about it? Government will be held core people and responsible because we see the whole concept of a city, even an estate is to be planned and you don't distort the master plan. You ought to know that this particular area will have X number of roads. You're putting all the necessary facilities. What has happened in Lekiekwe area is complete distortion. Some of those areas were agricultural areas marked for development that have been converted to estates. So that conversion itself, you have to hold government responsible. As to the issue of approved plans, we have begun to realize in this state that there are many buildings that are springing up everywhere and there are no plans. The seven story building that came down, we know for a fact now from information coming out that there was no approved plan for this building. And the interesting aspect of it was a stop order was placed on that building three times for them to stop work. They never did the continued until building came down. The material information is this and I am asking the legal state governor to kindly oblige us the information. Who is this man that owns that building? That's the seven story building because it's not enough for the commissioner to say, I resign. We need to know. We need to find out the people that were negligent. Legal state government is with their with all this information. And believe me sincerely, it is very irresponsible for them to do so. We need to know. Even if the governor was doing of that building, he needs to disclose I'm the owner so we can deal with him in the proper way. Transportation. Transportation is not wrong. It's a holistic statement that involves all sorts of modular movements. Now you have road transportation. You have rail transportation. You have water transportation. The majority of the people on the road ought not to be on the road. The equate access, you have water there both ways. So you can develop the waterways in such that you have ferries, move people from point A to point B. They can move them from a point in the equate and drop them at CMS at the right time. So it's going to be development of the waterways. We can no longer sit there and assume that all of us must be at the road at the same time. Also, you remember there was a time in Lagos that they had a park and ride system. The park and ride system involved that you pack your car in a certain place. You board your bus, you get into the city. When you close for the day, you enter this another bus that brings you back to your car and you drive away. We need to reappraise that. And are we monitoring our roads well? For me, we are not. And we are not developing other modes of transportation. Look at the Monorail. If you go to CMS, they have been disturbing traffic now for the last two years. Baba Tunefash, his excellency started the rail system. His excellency, Akimian body continued. His excellency, Baba Tunefash, some will look, has not finished it. He's a Monorail. In other parts of the world, he's more than a Monorail. What you have is a more tiring system, such that rail is moving from A to B, B to C all at the same time. We travel abroad, we see all these things. So we cannot continue to talk about road transportation. And one of the problems with our roads is the fact that there is no proper supervision. We have a last mile that is highly indisciplined. When last mile was brought into the system, they were disciplined code that were able to measure and monitor traffic. Last mile means monitoring traffic. But what they do now is not to monitor traffic. They do every other thing that is not their business. So what we now need to do is to reform last mile. It has to be reformed. We have to train them better. And we have to bring in more people into last mile. Because there are certain areas, the VGC area, you go to Ikota, you go to Agriki, in Ikorodu, you go to Okokomayiko. They have human movements 21 hours of the day. Now, in such places, we need a shift system, a three-shift system. Some people resume at eight, they close at four. Four, they close at 12. 12, they close at eight. So they have traffic monitoring agencies in both places at every time of the day. And you pay them well. Because what you're having is a last mile that is not, they don't have the incentive to walk. Last mile, they can stop and check your papers. They ask you to open your bonnet. They do all sorts of things. So we will fear last mile now more than we fear the police. So the last mile that we have now is an aberration. So we cannot just sit down and say road, road, road. If we have traffic managers on the road, that I'm showing that traffic is moving. Even in the back spots, the traffic will move. But who are the shops? Who are the shops? Last mile, because we could reform. I mean, we do respect. Last mile is an agency. The police has been reformed and over reformed and reformed and reformed again. But we still have the same output. So if there is not a monitoring system that checks to make sure that people are doing their jobs, what's the essence of this reformation? The police is the Nigerian police. It's a big, humongous organization. Either or not, we deserve up. State police is a different matter. But for Nigerian police, last mile is Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Lagos State. So it's not our business to go and monitor traffic in Oyo or in Plateau or in Jigawa. It's, we have a geographical zone where we cover. What we need to do, we have to bring in more people into last mile. We have to employ more people. What bringing more people into the last mile? I don't know how that solves the problem. The people you already have clearly stated that they're underpaid. And so bringing in more people means that the wage bill goes up. Already have they been able to pay them well because renumeration is also somewhat of an encouragement here. You have actually a mind to wage. The first problem is not wage. The first problem is this is a very large state. It's not a small state. Absolutely. Not taking of last mile for VGC or taking of last mile for leki. We're looking at the state from a holistic perspective. There's problem everywhere. We need to have a system that caters for the interstate. We need to have a last mile that can align with the local governments. We need supervisory agencies from all this level. In terms of known, but we don't have enough, coupled with the indiscipline of Lagos Traffic, Lagos Drivers. You find them, they just face traffic and there's great luck. If you go to the echo bridge, you know there was fire recently. Therefore they are repairing a part of the bridge. On that part that is not repaired, you find downfall, you find all car riders facing traffic and it makes movement in that area completely unmatchable. So you need some people there to ensure that certain things don't happen. Incentive to last mile, for crying out loud, working in the sun is not the easiest job to do. They put you and I in the sun, we're not going to be that comfortable. But we have an agency that is for traffic. We need to develop the water. We need to develop the railway. We need to create alternative road transportation. So that, and you don't even need to come into the city every day. You see one car, one man is driving for vacancies. You see another one, two people, three vacancies. So there is underutilization of those workers. So that's why I suggest that we go back, we go back to the drawing board and consider the issue of monitoring traffic and the park and ride system. And one of the problems again on our roads is the street traders. We have street traders, we have watchings on the road. We have women who are carrying children to beg for money. We have people selling galadies and selling all sorts of things. So you need a system whereby you get them off the road. The problem in Tinumbu and other areas, even in Agbara, down to Badagu, is the number of people that are trading on the road. The road is not a place for you to trade. So you need to create an avenue for them to trade elsewhere. It is not unlikely that you can have what they call a Sunday market. If you want a Sunday market in Lagos Island, for example, you close down Bad Macaulay, you close it down to Idumata. So that on Sunday, there's Liverpool trading Sunday market in England. In London, you go back to shop. People go there every Sunday, you meet yourselves. We can introduce that in different parts of the state. But on a Monday to Saturday basis, when we are going to work and we need to move properly and within time, we cannot allow street urchins. We cannot allow women carrying children beg on the road. We cannot find people who are selling, they sell chicken, they sell paper, they sell tomato. You can almost buy everything that you want on the road on your way home. It is not normal. You don't see that in any other society. So there's need for information. Let's talk about taxation in Lagos. That's another heavy problem for people. All kinds of people are coming for taxes. Sometimes you pay two times for the same thing. And you can't even sometimes tell the difference between a government official, as opposed to these others who pose as, and they have all kinds of names for these taxes. What would the SDP government do to change that situation or monitor it and make sure that people are not necessarily ripped off of the hardened money? Taxation in Lagos is abnormal. It seems like they have a set of people who sit down in a corner and on their bad day, they will introduce one form of tax. There's a state of multiple taxation and that is not the way it should be. But we also know that in our eternally generated revenue in the state, there's a company that is collecting the money that collects a percentage. There is no reason why alfabetta should collect a dime in our state. We have a Lagos state internally generated revenue service. It is the duty of that organization to collect tax and to keep the money in the state. We don't have an obligation to pay to anybody. Why do you think the Lagos state government introduced alfabetta into the system? Well, there was a time when the allocation of Lagos state was withheld by the further government. And the reason why that happened was they felt that they could not create LCDAs, standing side by side with local government, that the constitution of Nigeria did not recognize LCDAs. So the money was withheld. And at that time, and we must praise the ingenuity of the government at that time, what they tried to do was to ensure that they widened their tax nets and such a way to collect as much as is humanly possible. And it was the wisdom of the people then to bring in this tax agency. But we have left that situation. The money was released to government. Allocation has been paid as and when necessary to the Lagos state government. So that organization has been completely relevant in the system. So we don't need to pay them anything. We have the manpower for that. We remember the- So if you worked after, you would make sure that the government cuts ties with alfabetta? No, I would have seen the contract they won. They won. If they like, they take me to go and taste the veracity of that decision in court. I will receive it on day one by an executive order. And number two, if you remember, there was a time they told this lucky express road. If you remember very well, we used to pay toll, the lucky express road, and then the Osborne eco-eurode. And there was this, there was this, there was this incest problem. And after the incest, there were issues about collecting at both points. And it was the contention of people like us who knew that it was, it was like an abnormal tax. If we have to apply road, just to move from Osborne to Lucky, is a very short road, it was a short bridge. And we have to pay at that time, 400 naira. Per trip, if I pass that place three times a day, I pay 400, 400, 400, 400. It was not a daily pass. And it was, it was, it perpetrated action on people who lived in that access. And that access is not just a where it is a, it's not unlucky, it's lucky, VGC, abramadation are down to it. And government was gracious enough to listen to the protestation of the people. And the money was not, it was not introduced. We commend them. But you see they brought again another one recently. They say it's parking, parking tax or parking charge. We can continue like this. The case where in the time in this country whereby people are, people are, they are starving. People are hungry. There's no money. This will be said to the naira per liter. You can buy a carousel. You can eat bread. Then they say you should come and pay for things. We have to be reasonable in the way we traumatize the people. We have to find a way of generating money for the state. It cannot be tax, tax, tax, tax. It must stop. So for me as a, for our own governments, one of the things we will do is to look holistically at the tax regime of government. And to see the possibility of abandoning most of this. All right, finally, let's talk party politics. The STP is not as popular in Lagos as opposed to the PDP who's the main opposition. And of course, the ruling all progressive Congress. What makes you think that you stand a chance? You see this question of popularity. I agree with you. But there is no statistical basis for it. But what I will tell you now is this. I don't believe that the man who springs 12 hours on the road every day or who springs nine hours of the road is going to think about party. When he's going to cast his vote. He will likely think about the most efficacious person who can come into government and make a change. Because- But that person is being brought to the fore by a political party like it or not? I tell you, I've not allowed me to finish. You've not allowed me to finish. The political party is an instrument for electioneering. Do you agree with me? It's an instrument. I want to contest. I cannot contest as myself because the law does not permit me to do so. So I will go to a party and I'm contesting for STP. Remember, STP was MK Abiela's party. It's not on moon. It was a party between that Abiela but back then I can give it used as the vehicle for their campaign and election. This was in 2020. Yes. We are the people that still experienced that time. We're not dead. And remember also that there were people who could not vote in last election. People who were 14. 14 is them. Now they are 18. People who are 15. Now they are 19. They are going to vote. And you can see what the incest taught us that we cannot let that neglect the youths of this country. We need to understand that they are not going to vote from the perspective of Babasope Abiela or no. They are going to vote from the perspective of what they can see on the floor as people who can save them and their destiny. Okay. The dollar today is 709 out to one dollar. Today, 709 out to eight dollar. There was a time in this country, the dollar was 18 out of, 18 out of, I mean, 18 cover. One nine out for one dollar in this Nigeria in our generation. But now imagine people who engage in all forms of foreign exchange, cost of tickets, going from Lagos to Abu Jannah is about 85,000 to 100,000. How much do you pay to travel? Are we going to stop all this because we cannot manage our system? Anything that is dollar big, bread is 1,100, kerosene diesel. Where are the refineries? And you're telling me party. This is no longer party. This is going to be the particularity of people who can save us and save our children and save our destiny and restore the dignity of our country in the community of nations, my dear. We cannot be party. Okay. We're going to look at people and I can tell you as you go on your monitor, we are going to compare from the nooks and all the nooks and crannies of the state. We are going to carry the message of OV2023. All right. Well, I wish you all the best. Thank you very much. You have the pains. Well, Chief Kunle Oztman is the SDP Governorship Candidate for Lagos State. Thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate your coming. It's my pleasure. Thank you very much for availing me the opportunity to send the message of hope to Nigerians everywhere. All right. Well, we'll take a quick break. When we return, we'll be talking about the assessment of the Buhari-led administration as the President himself gave himself a pat on the back. We'll be right back.