Three senatorial candidates for Kwara central on Monday unveiled their agenda for forthcoming general elections, saying if they are given the mandate to serve; they will ensure qualitative education, improved health care service delivery, and empower women and youths to alleviate poverty in the state.
Three speakers are; the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bolaji Abdullahi, the Labour Party (LP), Umar Faruq Akanbi and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ridwan Apaokagi.
Abdullahi was a former minister of Sports and veteran journalist; Akanbi was former chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state; while Apaokagi is a medical practitioner and owner of a private medical facility in Ilorin.
They made their intentions known at a debate session organised for Kwara Central Senatorial District’s candidates by the Correspondents Chapel of the state’s council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The candidates, in their submissions, were of the opinion that, if Nigeria must regain its lost glory and be where it has to be among the comity of nations, the education sector must be made to work again.
They lamented the over eight months industrial action by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has rendered the students redundant at home.
The debaters equally attributed the alarming rate of insecurity and poverty in the country, resulting from youths unemployment.
Bolaji, the PDP candidate said: “Nigeria is at great crossroads. We are going through challenges that we have never experienced before. While Nigeria has the largest economy in the African continent it’s also home to the poorest people in the world. Poor higher education is hindering the country’s progress.
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“I want to give Kwara Central strong voice at the National Assembly. I have the education, I have the experience as a former minister. I’m going to be part of the people that will use the instrumentality of legislation to move the country forward.
“I will empower my people to be able to take decisions to be great. We have too much property in Ilorin, because youths are not employed. We must give education the desired priority. We must protect our vulnerable people, especially the aged.”
Akanbi, the LP candidate in his submission posits that lack of leadership has dwarfed Nigeria’s development despite being endowed with abundant natural resources.
“Nigeria’s economy is in shambles, students are at home because of ASUU Strike. Refineries are not working, yet we continue to budget for the turn around maintenance (TAM), the NNPC staff and we still import refined oil.
“We have all this problem because we do not have a legislature that is up to its billing. We need strong legislature that will put the executive on its toes on anything that the executive is doing against the interest of Nigerians. This is the kind of representation I want for my people,” he said.
Ridwan Apaokagi, the SDP candidate, lamented that, “What do you expect in a country where the president and minister’s cannot be treated even for malaria. The roads are bad because public officers do not travel by road. Most patients die because they cannot afford N3,000 for medical treatment.”
Apaokagi, who advocated for the participation of civil servants in partisan politics without losing their jobs, opined that, “Nigeria is going to collapse if we don’t all rise to salvage it.
“God will never come down to change people’s condition, unless they change it by themselves. No to money politics. We should chase away those who have ruled this country before and now out of power come 2023 by electing new set of trusted leaders across board.”
Earlier, Abdulhakeem Garba, the chairman of the Correspondents Chapel, explained that rationale behind the debate was to give the candidates the opportunity to meet with the large gathering of journalists to tell the gathering what they plan to execute when they eventually get to the red chamber.
Biodun Fagbemi, the chairman the organising committee declared that the debate was sponsored by the chapel and that since only education can unit us, they decided to give learned persons chance to speak their minds to the general public.
