Ahead of the gubernatorial election in Lagos State, the re-election bid of Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has received a boost with the pledge by a group of young professionals across the state to mobilise three million votes towards his victory.
The Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu Youth Professional Support (BOSYOPS) group was formally launched in Alausa on Monday.
The professionals’ group was set up in appreciation of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration’s support for youths’ empowerment in the state.
The group comprises young professionals, technocrats, business people, social activists, advocates, political analysts, social commentators and intellectuals in various sectors in the state.
The group seeks to showcase young achievers who are bold enough to identify with what the government is doing in Lagos and give their support and endorsement while serving as a rallying point towards garnering of support for the re-election bid of Governor Sanwo-Olu.
At the event, several young professionals spoke on how the Lagos State government has operated an open-door system to support entrepreneurial aspirations of young Nigerians, which does not require having influence in government.
Speaking during the launch, leader of the group, Abisola Olusanya said the formation of the group became imperative, so that the energy of the youth could be harnessed towards the realisation of the second term bid of the governor.
Olusanya noted that since the youths form the bulk of the voting population it was imperative that there should be a rallying point for them to help give their support towards the quest to transform Lagos by Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
“This is a group towards re-electing Sanwo-Olu for a second term in office. More importantly to be able to harness the energy of the youths towards ensuring that a greater Lagos agenda is implemented and come to reality.
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“We know that the youths constitute over 65 percent of the population, the youths decide what happens today, the youths decide what happens tomorrow and for that reason it is important that we all come together to push the narrative particularly around the achievements of the governor across all the sectors, and be able to show people and for people to see,” she said.
Olusanya further pointed out that the group had members across all the local government areas in the state, adding that strategies had been mapped out to work with people across wards
and move from house to house to seek votes and support for the governor’s second term bid.
“The main agenda of this gathering is to re-elect Governor Sanwo-Olu and each member here is expected to bring three people and if that is done; we would get the three million votes for Sanwo-Olu,” she added.
Earlier, several entrepreneurs and experts in different fields, spoke on how the Lagos State government keyed into their vision and gave them financial support, training, and other logistics for them to excel and start their businesses.
Ayowande Adelemo, founder of Atmosphere, said it was important to have value that can be beneficial to all and sundry in order to thrive.
“I will share a personal experience. I was on my way to work and I needed to send an urgent mail and all the mobile networks that I was using were down, then I asked myself why can’t we have network at the BRT bus stops.
“So I spoke with my friend, he said I should go and speak with Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). I walked into the office; asked to see the Managing Director without having an appointment.
“The Director was gracious enough and spared me five minutes and everything as they say is history. I thought it was a joke until I got a letter from LAMATA telling me to go to the busiest Bus Shelter to test run it. We had so much users at the Ikorodu and TBS terminals.
“The moral of my testimony is that you don’t need to know anyone to achieve a dream. I didn’t know anyone but our dear governor and LAMATA have given life to our vision; such a visionary leader deserves another term in office,” he said.
Akin Alabi, co-founder of Corporate Farm, said he was given financial and other forms of support by the Lagos State government to start his business without any influence in the Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
He praised the effort of the Lagos State government towards youth empowerment, stressing that the governor should be supported to win a second term.
