Dr. Samuel Adesola Adedayo, a medical doctor, a former chairman of Apapa Iganmu Local Council Development Area and the All Progressive Congress (APC) House of Representatives candidate, Apapa Federal Constituency in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, in a no hold barred interview with RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, said his mission is to bring the challenge of his constituents for national discourse.
Excerpt:
Having served as a Council chairman, what informed your decision to vie for the House of Representatives position?
Well, for me, it’s a call to service. I had been local government chairman for two terms, which is the limit and am not tired of serving my people. I have therefore put forward myself to defend their common interest at the Green Chamber and improve their livelihood.
What would be your priority if elected?
I will work with Representatives from other parts of the country to enact laws that will improve the welfare of the down trodden. Most areas in Apapa Federal Constituency are categorised as low income areas and many of the residents are peasants. In that constituency, we have 10 Wards and four of those Wards are in an elites environment, that’s those in Apapa GRA and Apapa Tincan Wharf, but the large percentage of the people that live in Ijora Oloye, Apapa-Iganmu, that constitute six Wards are peasants.
The whole of Apapa Iganmu is actually a slum and one of the things we need to do is to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor if we don’t want to run into crisis because the standard of living in that place is well below average. I believe if their Representative can bring there challenges to a national discuss, people will see the need to assist them.
As a former Council chairman in the Constituency, what would you consider as their major challenge?
Well, I will like to look at it from various segments of that society. I want to look at the large number of unemployed youth, they constitute a risk to the society. Not all of them are uneducated, many of them are educated but have no jobs. Secondly, there are some of them that have no skill, we should help them to develop a skill as a form of empowering them so that they can stand on their own and earn a decent living.
There are two major Ports at Apapa Federal Constituency, but right now, this Constituency is short-changed in terms of renumeration as regards what the Federal Government earns as revenue from them. We should look at the Ports along the Nigerian coast and earmark something like derivation for them. People living along those areas should have a form of relief because they generate alot of money for the Federal Government. Therefore, the Federal Government needs to pay special attention to them.
The other issue may be issue of accommodation, housing is a big problem for these people. If you see the way they’re living, the government needs to do a lot to assist them, this can be done either through mortgage or owner occupier.
The environment is also not too conducive for living well, it’s in jeopardy.because there is open drainages with mosquitos and all those kind of a thing. Honestly, we need to do something drastically to improve the environment and this will in turn boost their living standard. And of course, we have a large number of children in the society and we need to take care of their education,.
Again, even the sporting facilities in those areas.we need to improve on them. When I was the Council chairman, I facilitated the building of a mini Stadium for them, but nothing has been done there since I left office. We need to encourage them so that we can also pick those of them that are skillful for further development.
These are some of the things am thinking about and of course am going to liase with the stakeholders to know exactly what are there needs so that we can do the need assessment. Once we do the need assessment, I will work with other legislators and the executive of course to see how we can improve the standard of living of these people. Honestly, we have a large number of them that are earning below one dollar a day. So we must look at a way of reducing what they call the gene index.
What are your chances of winning the election?
Let’s start by discussing the platform on which am contesting. The All Progressive Congress (APC) is a platform that is acceptable to the people in Lagos and this is due largely to what the government of the progressives has done since 1999 and they have been helpful to the people of the state. So, I can’t see anybody living in Lagos that have not benefitted directly or indirectly from the progressive governance that we have since 1999 that was spare headed by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This is an advantage for me. The second one is that on a personal note, I have been Council chairman between 2008 and 2014 and I have been residing with them since 1988. I have been a community leader and a philanthropist in that area and am at home with every segment of the community. When you talk of the Yorubas, am at home with them, you talk of the Hausas, am at home with them, even the minorities like the Ilajes, Apois, the Nuipes and all of them. Again, because I have an hospital there that serves all these people and it’s like a community hospital for that area. Am sure those competing with me will loose their deposit if they ever bet.
The fuel scarcity issue coupled with the crisis of cash crunch seem to have hit up the polity and there is anxiety that the Election may not hold, how do you react to this?
I am a firm believer in God and I believe it doesn’t matter what people are doing to scuttle the election. The election will hold, we will have winners and a democratic government in place, ready to take over power from the out going government.
I don’t want our people to be discouraged. There is no doubt that there are some forces that are trying to scuttle the election and those forces shall be defeated by the grace of God. I appeal to our people not to be discouraged because they will soon smile.
I believe if Asiwaju wins by the special grace of God, there will be remarkable changes based on what he had done when he was Governor of Lagos State.
